Paatal Lok review: A powerhouse crime thriller

Madhukar Bhat, May 16, 2020, 6:25 PM IST

Paatal Lok is an Amazon original web series created by Sudip Sharma and directed by Avinash Arun & Prosit Roy.

This Anushka Sharma produced show is about four persons trying to assassinate a famous journalist and are caught by the police. In pursuit of the criminals, police discover the shocking past of the four suspects.

The series starts with a concept of three different worlds, The top one – heaven (Dev Lok) the abode of the gods, the middle – Earth (Dharti) where humans live, and the bottom – hell (Paatal Lok) where demons reside.

This metaphor connects to different characters in the series living in a world that is greedy, corrupt, and dark. It also allows them to flourish to become one of the most memorable characters we have seen in recent years.

As we started watching the series, it reminded us of David Fincher’s film Zodiac and web series Mindhunter. Not just because of the visuals or the camera movement but for the colour tone and the structure.

The series gets off to a slow start but once Paatal Lok’s narrative gets more concrete, we get to watch political conspiracy, action, violence, and drama in the series.

Every episode is crafted so beautifully that each leads to another concept or theories. On the cinematic level, the makers tried to experiment with different elements in each episode.

All the actors have done a brilliant job in the series, especially Jaideep Ahlawa, who plays the role of Hathi Ram Choudhary, an ordinary police officer, Abhishek Banarjee as Vishal Tyagi or Hathoda Tyagi -a serial killer and Neeraj Kabi who plays the role of a senior journalist Sanjeev Mehra.

Metaphorically, each of these three characters represents heaven, earth, and hell as well.

Unlike the other top series in Prime Video, Mirzapur, and The Family Man, this is a limited series that has 9 episodes. The makers ensured to end the show properly rather than asking the audience to wait for another year or two anticipating for the next season.

Paatal Lok is a political and social commentary of the India that we live in and after watching this we realize that not everybody who is at the top positions is morally right and living true to themselves while some criminals have humanity in them too. The circumstances and situations that they live in, force them to take certain decisions. Sometimes they have to live with lies hiding from real word with regret. You will be able to watch this as the story progresses.

It is one of the best series that we have watched from both technical stand-point and script. Paatal Lok is a slow burn and keeps the audience on the edge of the seats as the story progress. This one of the fascinating shows we have watched this year. Don’t miss!