Cast : Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi, Abhishek Banerjee, Gul Panag, Swastika Mukherjee, Ishwak Singh, Mairembam Ronaldo Singh, Niharika Lyra Dutt
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Rating: 4.5/5
Review: I have been obsessed with Paatal Lok ever since its release on 15th May 2020. This series kept me glued and I can’t take my eyes off from my cell phone’s screen. The whole tale revolves around a dissatisfied cop who is assigned to a high profile attempt to murder case that leads him into a dark empire of the gangland.
Series starts with the addressing of Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary aka Jaideep Ahlawat who defines to newbie Ansari that the Earth is segregated into three worlds like Swarg Lok, Dharti Lok and Paatal Lok. Hati Ram is always jovial to see his younger colleague Ansari aka Ishwak Singh who is determined to achieve his goal, something Hati Ram couldn’t.
Thinking about his typical day to day life, Hati Ram tells his mate Ansari how he is a permanent member of the Paatal lok, an underworld according to Hindu scriptures. Swarg Lok, heaven where successful and fortunate people reside, and members of Paatal Lok can only see Swarg Lok from a distance.
For the first time in his life, he is assigned with the investigation of an important case that could help him earn respect for himself and his family respect and also get a chance to pass through the Swarg lok, in a high profile murder attempt mystery.
He alights an investigation of four criminals like Vishal Tyagi aka Abhishek Banerjee, Tope Singh aka Jagjeet Sandhu, Kabir M. aka Aasif Khan and Cheeni aka Mairembam Ronaldo Singh. These four suspects are nabbed by Delhi Police for conspiring an assassination attempt of one of the topmost Television Journalists Sanjeev Mehra aka Neeraj Kabi. When Hati Ram starts investigating he finds out the loopholes and conspiracy of politicians.
In this series, we get to see how the whole system is involved in the process of crime, and how crimes occur at every place, whether in metro cities or in the remote villages in UP, Punjab. Child labour, molestation, rape, dirty political games extramarital affairs, caste system, religious differences, faked news and hypocrisy of news channels, everything is shown in this web series. After the fifth episode, the conspiracy assassination case twirls into politics, discrimination on the basis of caste and religion, stray love, anxiety issues and more.
Paatal lok is an engaging and entertaining crime thriller which set around Delhi. This 9 episode investigative drama tries to hold your attention around solving a murder attempt through mystery puzzle.
Ultra-carefully and very thoroughly crafted, great, awesome performances by Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi and Ishwak Singh, Abhishek Banerjee can make you watch continuously with constant curiosity to know the truth. In the role of topmost famous TV news anchor Neeraj Kabi was impressive throughout the series. His screen wife Dolly aka Swastika Mukherjee is an anxiety-ridden personality as well as emotionally exposed. Her love for strays are the main key factor for this web-series. This characteristic feature of her is similar with another main character of the series which is Hathoda Tyagi aka Abhishek Banerjee. Thus becomes a crucial part in the climax.
In the role of Hathoda Tyagi, Abhishek did a phenomenal job. With just two dialogues in the whole series. The way he expressed himself as Hathoda Tyagi or Vishal Tyagi is excellence at its best. On the other hand, Jaideep Ahlawat completes the character of Hathi Ram Chaudhary. He is the ultimatum for this web-series. His weary body language, slump posture added an extra flavour to the character.
Paatal Lok creates top-notch innovation in form. From cast selection, costumes, dialogues to screenplays; even in production design, one can surely tell that Paatal Lok have made its mark in the digital platform. Last but not the least, Pataal Lok is one of the most cutting edge, immensely deep and brutal crime thrillers that the Indian audience have witnessed in the recent past. Paatal Lok directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware and Prosit Roy, produced by Anushka Sharma has left audience no choice but to fall in love with this web series.
