A businessman from Nagaland is brutally killed during a summit in Delhi that aims to funnel massive investments into his conflict-ridden state. Thom (LC Sekhose) is found dead in the bathtub, his head severed from his body and placed in the spot that usually holds shower gel and scented candles.
Thom’s murder rattles the summit’s participants, including Naga community elder Ken (Jahnu Barua) and Kapil Reddy (Nagesh Kukunoor), who has vast business interests in Nagaland. While club hostess Rose (Merenla Imsong) and musician Raghu are the initial suspects, nothing is as it seems.
After Delhi Police inspector Hathiram (Jaideep Ahlawat) and his junior-turned superior Imran (Ishwak Singh) take charge, the investigation turns away from the capital in the direction of Nagaland’s seat of power. In Kohima, the probe widens to include Thom’s politically influential wife and his estranged son.
Hathiram and Imran encounter resistance wherever they turn, including from local police officer Meghna (Tillotama Shome). The sniper Daniel (Prashant Tamang) is on the prowl, ensuring that Hathiram and Imran sweat buckets in Kohima’s thin air.
The second season of the Prime Video series Paatal Lok strives to match, if not outdo, its acclaimed predecessor, which depicted contemporary India as a version of hell on earth. Created by Sudip Sharma and directed as well as shot by Avinash Arun Dhaware, the new saga of descent into the depths is suspenseful and emotionally involving, but not as potent or sharply political as its predecessor.
The scapegoating of vulnerable people, the knotty ties between political, criminal and financial interests, the grand conspiracy behind deceptively straightforward crimes – beats that were present in the first season echo this time round too, especially in the first few episodes. The Nagaland setting is a bold choice, letting Sharma and his team of writers examine the wear and tear of a decades-long insurgency.
Yet, the absence of intelligence networks is a gaping hole. The cynical spooks who play all sides, the military agents who meddle with the local citizenry, the bureaucrats who carelessly issue policies with far-reaching consequences – these elements that can be reasonably expected from a show taking place in a region with a history of armed rebellion are glossed over in favour of pablum about peace and development.
However, the new set of eight episodes has its share of subversions for alert viewers. Unwavering empathy for marginalised, powerless Indians resonates through Hathiram’s quest to serve the aims of justice.
Much is made of Hathiram’s elephantine memory, turning this already hard-working truth-seeker into a Holmesian detective. Humiliated by Imran’s promotion, annoyed by his spats with his wife Renu (Gul Panag) and impatient with procedures, Hathiram resorts to blinding flashes of insight in his lumbering towards the light.
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” Arthur Conan Doyle had his consulting detective Sherlock Holmes say (and as Hathiram discovers). Another Holmes dictum – “Results without causes are much more impressive” goes unheeded.
The writing and staging belabour the obvious and overtly spell out connections. The element that distinguished the first Paatal Lok – the impossibility of fully comprehending the depths of evil – is less vividly felt, especially in the concluding episodes.
Fine actors yank the covers off shady deeds, from Ishwak Singh as the sweet-faced and sincere Imran to Tillotama Shome as the doughty Meghna. Nagesh Kukunoor is an astute choice as the smooth Kapil. A bunch of actors from the North East are cast in prominent roles, ensuring representation, if not quite a well-rounded airing of the region’s particular concerns.
Jaideep Ahlawat once again nails the magnificently named grunt whom he was seemingly born to play. More demands are made on Ahlawat’s physicality than before, what with the surfeit of fistfights and chases (including one minutes before the climax).
But it’s Ahlawat’s craggy face, soulful eyes and overall weary countenance that we remember. Running over the same old ground, Hathiram finds the same old fears, but Ahlawat makes every minute of the retread worthwhile.
