Paatal Lok: The Case Of The Two Detectives

The new Amazon Prime series Paatal Lok has taken the Indian home audiences by storm. Terms like “bold,” “brave,” and “audacious” have been floating on social media since its release last week. As much as it’s a police procedural, a thriller with too many delicious twists and turns, I must say that I was drawn more towards the internal lives of Hathiram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat) and Imran Ansari (Ishwak Singh), the two men who’re tasked with the job of handling a “conspiracy to murder” case.

Usually, movies and shows have two detectives – both men – working on such high-profile cases. The idea of a mumbling-jumbling detective was, perhaps, firstborn in the juicy mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Holmes, the most famous fictional detective, was many a time accompanied by his trusted associate, Dr John Watson. Those two people have solved numerous cases in dozens of stories. And that’s why you always catch two cops, with varying degrees of temperament, sense of humour, and ranks, on the big-and-small screens today. The template, which was set more than a century ago, is still being used without any tweaks made to its foundation.

For a moment, let us go back in time to September, 2019, shall well? It was, of course, the golden days of the world (read Pre-COVID19), but also of another Amazon Prime show that made heads turn – The Family Man. In this laugh-a-minute-thrill-another-minute drama, there’s Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee), a gun-toting intelligence officer who lies through his teeth. His antics, sometimes, put him in trouble, but it gives us chuckles, for we’re able to understand his situation. He seems to be stuck between the devil and the deep sea all the time – he has to face the terrorists on one side, and, on the other, keep his adventures to himself, as his wife and children might throw tantrums if they get a hint of his actual work.

He’s again not all alone. He has a partner-in-duty, named JK (Sharib Hashmi). JK knows everything there’s to know about Srikant, as they both spend a considerable amount of their waking hours together. It’s this particular scent of bonhomie that writers try to capitalize on. In Netflix’s Sacred Games, too, Inspector Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) has a right hand man in Constable Ashok Katekar (Jitendra Joshi) in the first season.

Like what happens between Holmes and Watson, friendship gradually blooms between these different characters. Chaudhary and Ansari are almost inseparable in Paatal Lok. When Ansari’s religious identity as a Muslim is made fun of when he fails to catch a lead in the case, Chaudhary stands by his young subordinate with a determined passion. And when the latter struggles to string words together in his son’s school in an unrelated incident, Ansari saves the day without losing a beat in his speech.

When did Ansari and Chaudhary become chums exactly? Maybe, when Ansari started tagging along with Chaudhary! This is merely a matter of conjecture since the show doesn’t focus on this aspect of their acquaintanceship. But what puts them two together is the fact that they’re both underdogs. While Ansari is looked at with suspicion every now and then, Chaudhary is bogged down by his middle-class sensibilities. Even after being in the service for a decade and a half, he’s not respected much by his seniors. And, probably, for the first time in his life, he’s heading a case where the depths are lower and murkier than what he actually bargained for. Although his bosses think that he’s too naïve to crack it, Chaudhary is hell-bent on proving his critics wrong. And Ansari supports him blindly.

And, though, Chaudhary is the main face of the series, he isn’t a saint. When it comes to traditional on-screen heroes, there are many rules that writers follow. These heroes will never let the evil in them win. But Chaudhary is kind of grey in that area. He thrashes the accused regularly to squeeze out the truth from them. However, if you take a closer look at Ansari, you’ll realize that he’s calmer and soft-natured. He is, of course, new to the job, but he doesn’t believe in violence. And he doesn’t swear either. This symbiotic relationship exists in buddy comedies, as well, but in this flavorful genre, the central characters are mostly on an equal footing – example: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.

Paatal Lok discusses many things, i.e. casteism, sexism, fake news, extramarital affairs, etc., but I found a certain kind of mojo in the moments that held Ansari and Chaudhary together.