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Amazone Prime Patal Lok : A hit or a miss?

With the lockdown due to Covid19, OTT platforms have been releasing substantially good content for the past two months. Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney Hotstar, MUBI, ALT Balaji...the options are limitless. Viewers are just a click away from their favourite shows, movies, docuseries. You are simply spoilt for choice. 
But as the availability of content surges, does its quality diminish? As an avid content consumer, I,for one, believe so. In the last two months, I really haven't found anything that could keep me hooked. I took screenshots of recommendations and stayed up nights watching shows, series, binge-watching my weekends away in the hope that at least one movies or show will be worth the effort. But nothing clicked till Patal Lok. 
Now, there's already so much being said about this series, I'm not going to go into the details of it. You will get to listen to all versions of it on YouTube and other platforms, where industry and content experts will be reviewing it. 
I'm just going to give you some points as to why you should this show a chance. 

So let's begin, Firstly, I have faith in Clean Slate Filmz. I had previously done a piece on PARI, and it was one of the best bollywood horror movies I had watched in a long time. Going back further, I watched NH10 and Phillauri. For a content addict, it was enough to know that CSF brings to its audience reliable, unique, good content. So as a viewer if you want to trust a production house in the future for good content, CSF will be my (safe) bet. 

Secondly, stretching the first point a bit further, I like the collab between Avinash Arun-Prosit Roy. Roy's Pari was a great watch because it was so unlike the streotypical half porn-half horror, romantic, cheezy, and without-logic stuff Bollywood serves us in the name of horror. On the other hand, both Madaari and Drishyam were phenomenal movies. Especially Madaari because it only makes us realize more what a true powerhouse talent Irrfan Khan was. Drishyam was smart, intelligent and crisp. Its of no wonder that Patal Lok came out so beautifully on screen. 

Thirdly, Patal Lok didn't stretch like Sacred Games. Sacred Games started off as a great web-series, Season 1 was good. In Season 2, I guess they thought viewers will anyway watch it so let's just relax. And relax it did. A bit more relaxation and it would have gone from Sacred Games to So-Jao Games. Patal Lok kept it short, simple and clear. The writers didn't introduce too many plot twists, the cast didn't overact, the narrative didn't take a Pontius Pilate voice-over, no one tried to be a superhero. Everyone was human. And that's where Patal Lok struck gold. It managed to bring before the audience the human angle, not the humane one. The characters didn't deliver sharp dialogues to prove that 'dekho kitne smart hai hum.' They just showed 'dekho kaise insaan hai hum'. 

Fourthly, the phenomenal cast. If Saif as Sartaj Singh was intelligent, tortured, the ideal protagonist to be pitted against the corrupt, street smart, slick, anti-hero Gaitonde, then Jaideep Alhawat as Hathi Ram Singh is effortless, raw, uncensored, a bit of a 'bail-buddhi', endearingly stubborn yet brilliant. Alhawat's performance is so beautifully captured, he has truly become Hathi Ram Singh. Top marks for body language and dialogue delivery. The scene that lived with me was when Alhawat gets slapped after returning home by his wife. The backstory of that scene and the way it was enacted was beautiful. 
Another brilliant watch was Abhishek Banerjee. Hathoda Tyagi and Abhishek Banerjee became synonymous in Patal Lok. He has essayed his role with the ease of a true craftsman and we can only hope to see him more and in more substantial roles. 
Neeraj Kabir was Neeraj Kabir. There was nothing bad or good. It was good to watch Swastika Mukherjee in a bolly flick after Detective Byomkesh Bakshi. The rest of the cast and crew were good but none that did something extraordinary. 
Kudos to the casting team. Great pick of actors. 

Watch Patal Lok for its refreshing take on minority issues. Watch it for the performance of Jaideep Ahlawat and Abhishek Banerjee. Watch Patal Lok for its unique, simple, mesmerizing story telling. Watch it because its only 9 episodes.  Watch it for a short course in how good direction can breath life into a story. Watch it because it us actually that good. In short, just watch it. 

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