Paatal Lok S2: Jaideep Ahlawat Show Is a Masterpiece in Fictional Storytelling (2025)

Paatal Lok Season 2: Jaideep Ahlawat Show Is a Masterpiece in Fictional Storytelling

In the five years that have passed since season 1, Paatal Lok has maintained its reputation as one of the best shows in the streaming space, primarily owing to its memorable characters and intuitive storytelling. The first season, directed by Avinash Arun and created by Sudip Sharma, introduced the idealistic but worn-down cop Hathiram Chaudhary (played with immeasurable talent by Jaideep Ahlawat).

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In season 2, he likens himself to a racehorse but not because of how easily the metaphor lends itself to hypermasculinity. Instead, he finds a quiet acceptance in the ordeal of a racehorse – the horse is aware that he doesn’t receive the trophies or laurels but it keeps running, day after day.

That’s who Hathiram is – his seniors take credit for his work, often leaving him sipping tea on the sidelines and people under his tutelage go on to surpass him in rank. But he keeps hitting the ground running with only his blank stare acting as a witness to his Sisyphean existence.

And yet this is the man who holds the reins of Paatal Lok. Over the two seasons, Hathiram has become a second skin to Ahlawat – he employs the character’s grief and the mindless monotony of a job well-done but rarely appreciated into his physicality. When Hathiram isn’t on the field, pursuing suspects, his movements seem almost laborious but, on the chase, he’s quick on his feet and armed with a sharp wit. This duality to Hathiram (and there are even more layers to him if you so wish to peel) still makes him one of the most interesting characters to come out of the police procedural space.

Paatal Lok, in that genre, isn’t loud but it’s braver. The show, despite being unhurried, is immersive and haunting. Imraan Ansari (Ishwak Singh), who was under Chaudhary’s training, is now an ACP who ropes the latter into a high-profile murder investigation.

Jonathan Thom (Kaguirong Gonmei), a key player in Nagaland’s politics, is found dead in his hotel room before an important business summit in Delhi which takes the investigation to Nagaland. This presents a challenge for the writers – tonal balance and nuance. Indian cinema, historically, hasn’t always managed to capture the intricacies of a state like Nagaland, especially when the protagonists are essentially outsiders.

And yet creator Sharma and director-cinematographer Avinash Arun Dhaware (along with writers Rahul Kanojia, Tamal Sen, and Abhishek Banerjee) manage to touch upon the state’s complex history and the lives of the subjects with utmost sensitivity.

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Ansari and Chaudhary are greeted by Kohima SP Meghna Barua (Tillotama Shome) in Nagaland who, right off the bat, helps them realise that their usual methods won’t work here. She is part-cop, part-diplomat – a sharp contrast to the protocol-following Ansari and the brute force-relying Chaudhary. While her character isn’t fleshed out as well as it should have been, it’s Shome’s performance that saves it.

With every well structured frame, the show becomes less about a murder and more about power and politics and, above all, the instinct of self-preservation. The devil is, as one says, in the details and the makers sketch out these details brilliantly.

The business summit becomes a starting point from which the show takes the viewer into the way development and the people that need it the most become pawns in a much larger, convoluted game. It looks at the political system as an entity of its own – every person captured in the cogs must fight for the upper hand or risk getting chewed out and losing their individuality….at best. It’s themes like this that make Paatal Lok a devastating watch.

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Paatal Lok is one of the few shows in the genre that manages to balance its protagonist’s professional and personal life without making either seem like an afterthought or an unnecessary indulgence. Chaudhary seems to have made peace with his place and role in the system or perhaps he reluctantly succumbs to it but that doesn’t save him from the constant nagging presence of his wife Renu’s (Gul Panag) brother who wishes for a better life for his sister. This desire isn’t far from what Renu wishes for herself but the demands of Chaudhary’s job take a toll on her too and so does the way he deals with stress and grief.

In a particularly brilliant confrontation between the couple, Renu and Chaudhary both lash out at each other, the frame tightening into them. The tremble in his voice comes from barely contained grief that doesn’t have an outlet; the indignance in hers comes from a clash between exhaustion and loyalty.

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And yet they gravitate to each other constantly – Renu comforting in her mere presence. Just as you find yourself lulled into their fraught but quiet domesticity, the show pulls you back into the high-stakes investigation. Despite its pacing and tone, Paatal Lok season 2 doesn’t let the viewer rest.

The balance the makers succeed in achieving is even more surprising considering how many characters go in and out of the narrative. There’s the old faces, including Anurag Arora and Nikita Grover as the immensely likeable and effective Manju. The new setting also gives us new faces (all brilliantly cast) – from Merenla Imsong who delivers a confident and stirring performance as a key suspect Rose to LC Sekhose and Rozelle Mero as Reuben and Asenla Thom who imbibe even the simplest seasons with a thick tension.

From pineapple sellers to drug dealers and a sniper, it’s impressive how a character in this show could be on screen for mere seconds but leave a lingering impression till the end. Even after characters leave the story, their shadow stays. The decision to bring new faces into the cast lends an authenticity to the show that does wonders.

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This is also owing to the fact that there is always an underlying empathy in the show – when violence is always just around the corner, it can be easy to want to take the easy way out. To paint one side as the aggressor and then employ all the protagonists' might into neutralising a threat but Paatal Lok is smarter than that.

As the police procedural uncovers layers of the investigation, no detail seems out of place. The only drawback being that there are a few threads that don’t reach a satisfactory completion.

But with a gripping background score and striking camerawork that discards the need for a constant point-of-view, Paatal Lok season 2 is a masterpiece in fictional storytelling.

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Topics:Tillotama ShomeJaideep AhlawatPaatal Lok

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Paatal Lok S2: Jaideep Ahlawat Show Is a Masterpiece in Fictional Storytelling (2025)

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