Paatal Lok: Sudip Sharma Wanted To Explore Indian Class System's Connection To Ancient Realms

Sudip Sharma, says that while working on Paatal Lok he found ways to understand the country better.

Published: Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 14:06 [IST]

Sudip Sharma, who is gearing up for the release of Amazon Prime original series Paatal Lok, says that while working on the show, he found ways to understand the country better.

Sudip Sharma On Paatal Lok: India Continues To Fascinate Me

Paatal Lok, written and created by Sudip Sharma, features actors Neeraj Kabi, Jaideep Ahlawat, Gul Panag, Swastika Mukherjee and Abhishek Banerjee in lead roles. The show will follow a cop, who gets the case of a lifetime only to lose himself, while finding the truth behind the assassination attempt of a prime time journalist.

Paatal Lok Creator Sudip Sharma

Sudip Sharma says the neo-noir series helped him explore the faultlines that run in the Indian society. "It's always been on my agenda to try and understand this country better; and even in my forties, it continues to fascinate and yet disturb me. When you think about it, you realise there are multiple fault lines that run across the country; be it because of economy, class, rural and urban divide etc. - we can deny it, but they do exist."

Sudip Sharma On Show's Concept

Inspired by the ancient realms of Swargalok (heaven), Dharti Lok (earth), and Paatal Lok (netherworld), Sudip said, he wanted to find the connection of these realms with the class system in the society. "The thought behind the concept of the show was to explore these three classes that exist in our society, (upper class, middle class and lower class) 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," Sharma added in a statement.

Paatal Lok Was Shot In 110 Cities

The show, reportedly has been shot in 110 cities across the country, including Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh. Talking about the process he added, "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."