Development

Paatal Lok is a police-based investigative thriller inspired by the traditional concepts of Svarga, Dharti and Paatal (heaven, earth and the hell), as metaphors for the different classes of India and the four estates.^[14][15] Vijay Subramanian, head of content for Amazon Prime Video India, announced the series, along with six Indian originals, at the Television Critics Association's press tour held at Los Angeles, California in February 2019.^[22] Writer Sudip Sharma eventually explained about the concept of the series, in a virtual meet stating "There are primarily three classes, the upper, middle and lower which I personally associated to Swarg Lok, Dharti Lok and Paatal Lok, essentially derived from heaven, earth and the netherworld. The thought behind the concept of the show was to explore these three classes that exist in our society in the form of an investigative thriller. "We wanted to explore the three layers from the eyes of the investigator; i.e. the protagonist of the show, who represents the earth, the victim represents the heaven, and the suspects come from Paatal Lok."^[23] The series marked Sudip's fourth collaboration with Anushka Sharma's production house Clean Slate Filmz (NH10, Phillauri and Pari), and the latter's debut in digital platforms.^[4] Anushka stated in an interview with Press Trust of India, that "I acknowledge that I have made a career and a name for myself, which is relevant. I want to be able to use the position that I've created with my hard work as an actor and be able to back the stories, people and talent."^[24]

Writing

Sudip Sharma began writing Paatal Lok in the beginning of January 2017. For Sharma it was his maiden attempt at writing in long-form. The writing team also consisted of Hardik Mehta, Gunjit Chopra, Sagar Haveli who were also beginners in writing a series.^[4] Sharma wrote the first and last three episodes, while the remaining five were written by the other writers. All the writers did field research visiting places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in August 2017.^[4] The writing of the series took more than a year to complete, followed by research works and location scouting, and other process of pre-production.^[4] The show has two directors, Prosit Roy and Avinash Arun Dhaware, both directing different portions of the series.^[4] On hiring the directors, Sudip Sharma eventually stated "The minute both Prosit and Avinash were hired, I locked myself in a room with them for two weeks. Everyday, from 9 am to 7 pm, we would come in and go over the script again and again. In the process, we discussed how we would approach each scene, rewrote some parts, and changed character graphs. What that did was that by the end, the script was as much theirs as it was the writers."^[4]

Casting

Sudip eventually wrote the script with the protagonist Jaideep Ahlawat in mind, stating that "he had a phenomenal presence".^[23] He gave the script to Jaideep, who read two or three episodes of the script at night, and Jaideep eventually met Sudip and Karnesh Sharma, the following day to read the entire script. Jaideep eventually stated in an interview with The Indian Express, that "What I found interesting was that the first impression you get of all the characters is in black and white — the criminals, the media and the cops. There’s a clear segregation. But as the story progresses, all the characters merge into each other in such a way that you don’t realise what’s right and what’s wrong."^[25]

Jaideep did not take any projects, in the intermediate time, despite being approached for Khaali Peeli (2020).^[26] While shooting for the series, he eventually increased his weight from 85 to 100 kilograms, as the show became physically demanding.^[27] While the series been primarily shot in Chitrakoot, Jaideep stated that the temperature ranged around 45-46 degrees, which eventually became difficult to shoot.^[25] Ishwak Singh, made his digital debut through the series, stated that "The shooting process in the digital world is quite different from that of the movie. While shooting for 'Paatal Lok', it was like shooting for three movies, as the makers had a bigger canvas to paint and a lot more to express and communicate."^[28] Gul Panag describes Renu Chaudhary, Hathiram's wife, as "the kind of middle-class wife whose aspirations are linked to her husbands".^[29]

Abhishek Banerjee also served as the casting director of the series, apart from playing the role of Hathoda Tyagi, the main antagonist in the series.^[30] Swastika Mukherjee, who played the role of Dolly Mehra, stated that he got a call from Banerjee, at October 2018, and sent her audition tape, which received a good feedback. She later came to Mumbai, for the audition process, which eventually worked well, although the actor joined the shoot, post completing her portions in Dil Bechara (2020).^[31] Although her character was not a lengthy one, she stated "length is not a prerequisite for me, and it would be stupid to choose roles depending on its length or dialogues. What makes sense is to understand the quality and also what you can bring to the table."^[31]

Filming

Sudip eventually stated about having two directors to shoot the web series, stating it had as much to do with logistics as it had to do with artistry, He added "It’s physically very difficult for one director to shoot continuously for 100 days. In web-series, because of the format, directors come in late and then if you dump nine-ten episodes on one person, it’s very difficult for them to process this new world, these new characters and do complete justice to it."^[4] The series has been shot in 110 cities in India, with 70% of the shoot took place at actual locations, and the rest of the shoot was held at Mumbai.^[23] Shot mostly in major portions across North India, including Delhi and Uttar Pradesh,

Sudip chose locations with which he was familiar and had researched for his previous work.^[32] He chose to set the plot in Delhi, as Sudip stated "Its the apex of the Indian political scene and where the power lies. Also, most media channels operate out of Delhi. Another reason to consider Delhi was because of its location: it has the feel of a frontier town bordering to certain parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. These were aspects that we considered mainly because of what it is surrounded by and the representation in terms of power and national setting."^[32]

But in order to make the show as authentic, the makers decided to shoot some portions in Chitrakoot and Punjab for the landscape; with this Paatal Lok becoming the first web series to be shot at Chitrakoot. He stated "This is the first time any film, or series has been shot in Chitrakoot. When we had initially visited Chitrakoot for a scout, we weren’t aware of the terrain and the lack of infrastructure. We had to build the entire shooting eco-system from scratch. Luckily for us, a hotel had recently opened there, and that helped us a lot. The town is almost like a quaint forgotten town, something like Banaras but without the hustle and bustle."^[32]

Soundtrack

Paatal Lok's original score and soundtrack were jointly composed by Naren Chandravarkar and British violist Benedict Taylor. The score received positive response from critics. In an article from Scroll.in titled Best of 2020 Music in Films and Web Series, Devarsi Ghosh stated "The gloomy landscape created by background score stylists Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar neither calls for attention nor can be ignored. The Paatal Lok score snakes through the roughly 360-minute series as a character in itself, dipping in and out of the sound design, hiding in the shadows, appearing only when necessary."^[33]

A promotional single "Toofan Main", sung by Prabh Deep and produced by Sez on the Beat, was released through YouTube on 22 May 2020,^[34] and received applause from audiences.^[35] The ending credits of the series features a reused rendition of the bhajan "Sakal Hans Mein Ram Viraje" by Prahlad Tipanya, famous for singing Kabir in the Malwi folk tradition. Tipaniya is named in the credits for the song and composition, while the lyrics are attributed to Guru Nanak. However, the series misattributed the credits for the song, which is written by Nanak Das, a renowned poet from Saurashtra. According to Niranjan Rajguru, a scholar and professor of Gujarati literature at Saurashtra University, "Few of Nanak Das’s compositions have been heard outside Gujarat, Sakal Hans is an exception as it was picked up by Prahlad Tipaniya who adapted it into Hindi."^[36]

Mythological Tropes

Socio-economic divisions in India are metaphorically compared with the mythological Indian concepts of Svarga, Dharti and Paatal (heaven, earth and the hell). Delhi is used as the story-telling playground where Lutyens Delhi is heaven, Vasant Vihar and Noida is the earth while Jamna Paar in East Delhi is hell.^[37] The climax of the story is also based on the mythological fable of Yudhisthira's dog from the Mahabharata.^[38][39] In the closing moments, on an outing with his family, Hathiram Chaudhary spots a stray dog at a distance and tosses his ice-cream to him. The ending simply suggests that even after being neck-deep in hell, Hathi has now somehow found his way to "heaven".^[39] The dog simply serves as an allegory for Hathi's lack of selfishness and righteousness in a world where it's very easy to fall prey to corruption.^[39]

Didactic themes

The show gives an insight into various forms of discrimination in India, through the perspectives of the four main antagonists – Kabir M, Tope Singh, Vishal "Hathoda" Tyagi and Ronaldo Singh (Cheeni).^[38] Kabir's backstory serves as a metaphor for religious fanaticism.^[39] Tope Singh's past revolves all around the toxic conflicts between the upper and lower castes.^[39] Cheeni's story brings out the issues of child abuse and discrimination against transgenders.^[39] Hathoda Tyagi's background gives insight into the abysmal state of women safety in rural India.^[39]

Politics

According to Tanul Thakur of The wire; Paatal Lok begins with the excitement of a fantastic bildungsroman. Later, at the end of this traditional coming-of-age play, the protagonist comes to a critical realisation, discovering his True Self. However, because Hathi is about to dive into a macabre murky realm, that classic cliche is given a wonderful twist: what if you find the world but lose yourself?^[40] In addition to conveying a tight plot, the programme is astutely political. No matter how excellent an officer Ansari is, his last name follows him everywhere, subjecting him to harsh remarks — many of which are made by his colleagues. An extramarital romance between Sanjeev and his coworker Sara (Niharika Lyra Dutt), who is many years his junior, takes an unsettling turn, exposing his hidden hypocrisies. The petty power conflicts in the police station, particularly between Virk and Hathi, expose the Indian middle-innate class's cannibalism. And we witness a ruined India in the stories of Tope, Tyagi, Kabir, and Cheeni, where individuals are consumed and destroyed for no fault of their own, and where they in turn consume and destroy others.^[41][42]

Critical response

Audience reaction

Paatal Lok opened to rave reviews, with many calling it India's best Hindi-language series.^[70] The day the series was released, Anurag Kashyap tweeted that Paatal Lok is "the best crime thriller to come out of this country,"^[71] adding that "It comes from the understanding of Real India. The dark heart of India, the communal and casteist India."^[71] Filmstars Manoj Bajpayee and Alia Bhatt both took to Twitter to praise the show and the acting.^[72][73] The HuffPost India and The Indian Express ranked Paatal Lok as the Best Hindi Series of 2020.^[74] Variety magazine listed Paatal Lok as one of the best international TV shows of 2020.^[10]

Awards and nominations