How Paatal Lok, The Family Man unveil India's unexplored reel landscape

A very sulky superintendent of police (SP), Meghna Barua, greets inspector Hathi Ram Chowdhury and assistant commissioner of police Imran Ansari at Dimapur airport. Barua (Tillotama Shome) is miffed at having to babysit the two officers from Delhi, where Jonathan Thom, a major local political leader from Nagaland, was brutally murdered. Chowdhury (Jaideep Ahlawat) and Ansari (Ishwak Singh) have landed on the day of Thom’s (Kaguirong Gonmei) funeral. Barua, rightly, anticipates trouble.

 

Sudip Sharma’s Paatal Lok (season 2, Amazon Prime Video) is gripping—superbly written, cast, and shot. As it takes you through the twists and turns of the investigation, you see Nagaland as you have never seen it before. The state’s fantastic landscapes, hopes, conflicts, culture, and language — all feel real and accessible. A large part of the cast is from Nagaland, and Nagamese is spoken in almost all the scenes shot there.

 

The first season of Paatal Lok (2020) was shot extensively in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, bringing the region’s language, politics, and conflicts to life. Raj and DK’s The Family Man, another popular show on Prime Video, has just finished shooting its third season in the Northeast. The previous season was set largely in Chennai and Sri Lanka. Sharma’s Kohrra (Netflix), which will see its second season this year, was shot entirely in Punjab. Ditto for Imtiaz Ali’s Amar Singh Chamkila (Netflix). The list goes on.

 

The rise of streaming video since 2016 has not only created the pan-Indian film and the domestic crossover — helping Indians discover Malayalam, Tamil, Assamese, and Bengali cinema, among others—but is also enabling us to explore different parts of India, rather vicariously, as the geography of storytelling expands. Writers and creators are telling more authentic stories based in states and cities that we may not have seen much of in mainstream media, such as  Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and  Madhya Pradesh. Or ones that we have some mistaken notions about like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Tamil Nadu. 

 

For many years, films helped us live vicariously. Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) was shot almost entirely in Spain, Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan (2010) in the US, large parts of Ali’s Tamasha (2015) was based in Corsica. There are dozens of such examples — some because the story demanded it, some due to co-production treaties and the incentives they offer, and others simply for a touch of exotica. Yash Chopra, who gave us gritty dramas such as Deewar (1975) and Kaala Patthar (1979), was famous for shooting many of his popular songs in Switzerland. These movies became a trigger for tourism to those countries.

 

But whenever the story was based in India, filmmakers usually stuck to studios in Mumbai, Chennai or Hyderabad. The few locations that have been used consistently are Kashmir, Wai in Maharashtra, Mumbai, and Chennai. They were however just that — locations. Wai, in fact, has doubled as some North Indian location or the other in many films, including Swades (2004) and Omkara (2006). The place had no role in the story.But the kind of visceral connection between the story and the place that, say, a Paatal Lok 2 or Kohrra have is wonderful.

 

It works on two levels. First, it exposes us to a state—its language and culture—that we know very little about or have a stereotypical image of in our minds. The only thing I knew about Nagaland was that its Hornbill Festival is much sought after. However, that it is a dry state with a really superb music scene is among the many revelations. The Naga people’s command of English is superb, of course, but most of them understand Hindi as well and are as plugged into popular culture as anyone else. A few hours of footage on the-behind-the-scenes of the show itself is very revealing.

 

Merenla Imsong, (who plays Rose Lizo) is an effervescent influencer and actor who plays a drug addict and key character in the story. L C Lekhose, who plays Reuben Thom, the hot-headed but kind-hearted son of Jonathan, is pitch perfect. That then is the second thing. A visceral story connection with the location spreads opportunities, reduces costs, and brings so much colour to shows and films that are fighting for the attention of one of the most over-served consumers in history. Let us have more of those please. 

 

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