The trailer of ‘Paatal Lok 2’, one of the most exciting web series of this year, has arrived. After a long wait of 5 years, Jaideep Ahlawat is once again ready to entertain with a solid story in the role of police officer Hathiram Chaudhary.
The presence of powerful actors like Ishwak Singh, Gul Panag and Tilottama Shome along with Jaideep in the trailer of ‘Paatal Lok 2’ is exciting. Also, there is a lot of suspense in the story which keeps the audience engaged. However, another interesting thing in this trailer is that the plot of the show is based on Nagaland in the North-East part of the country.
Nagaland increasing the darkness of the underworld
Nagaland and the decades-long violence there seem to be becoming a major plot-point in the story of Jaideep Ahlawat’s Amazon Prime show ‘Paatal Lok 2’. If we remember season 1 of ‘Paatal Lok’, then this show works more like a social thriller. The cases that come in the hands of Hathiram Chaudhary delve into the layers of socio-political environment that bring about changes in people’s behavior and present character studies of dark characters.
In Season 2, Hathiram is going to face a case of murder of a leader of Nagaland. To solve the mystery of this case, he will have to go to Nagaland, where the violence of different tribal communities and their conflict with power will be in focus. However, this year Nagaland is going to appear as a character in the story of another very popular show.
‘The Family Man’ also moved to Nagaland
Another very popular show of Amazon Prime, ‘The Family Man’ is going to bring its third season this year. Manoj Bajpayee starrer this show has also impressed the public a lot with the story of its first two seasons. In the story of the first season of ‘The Family Man’, Mumbai and Kashmir were part of the main plot. Whereas in the story of the second season, this work was part of Chennai.
Now in the third season the story is going to reach Nagaland. And the kind of show ‘The Family Man’ is, it is almost impossible for it not to make the conflict going on inside Nagaland a part of the story. A large part of ‘The Family Man 3’ has been shot in Nagaland, this has been coming to the fore in the reports and the actors have also shared pictures from there.
Bollywood films shot in North-East
It is not that earlier Nagaland, Meghalaya or Arunachal Pradesh did not find a place in the story, or films were not shot there. Dev Anand’s film ‘Jewel Thief’ (1967) was shot in Sikkim when it was not even a part of India. Reports suggest that several parts of Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Farooq Sheikh starrer ‘Ek Pal’ were shot in Shillong (Meghalaya) and Jorhat (Assam).
In the 90s, parts of Salman Khan’s film ‘Qurbani’ (1991) were shot in Shillong, Meghalaya. The song ‘Tanhai Tanhai’ from Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Koyla’ (1997) was shot in Arunachal. While Raveena Tandon starrer ‘Daman’ (2001) was shot in Assam, John Abraham’s ‘Saaya’ (2003) was shot in parts of Nagaland. ‘Rock On 2’ released in 2016 and ‘Rangoon’ released in 2017 were also shot in the North-East. But in the last few years, North-East has not become just a location, but has also become a part of film stories and conflicts.
The story is getting depth from the North-East states
Even before ‘Paatal Lok 2’ and ‘The Family Man 3’, the north-eastern part of the country has become a part of the story in some recent Bollywood films. In Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Anek’ (2022), the ongoing separatist movements in the North-East states, the violence of tribal groups and the culture there were mainly made the plot of the story. Shot in Assam and Meghalaya, ‘Anek’ is one of the big Bollywood films based on North-East.
The story of the horror-comedy film ‘Bhediya’, released in 2022, was also set in the North-East. In this film, which was shot in many districts of Arunachal, the people, society and myths of that place were woven very well into the story. Paying the price of development, the loss of natural resources and environment of the North-East, was the central theme of this Varun Dhawan starrer film.
How is the craze increasing?
Landscape plays a big role in the narrative of films. Locations set the mood of the film’s story. The mountains, valleys, forests and waterfalls of the North-East not only create beautiful visuals, but also help in giving a suspense and mysterious feel. A new landscape keeps the audience engaged because along with the characters, they see everything around them that seems new. Be it North or South, most of the popular locations have been used a lot in films and in the name of mountains, Uttarakhand or Kashmir has also been used a lot in films. Whereas North-East is full of naturally beautiful locations, which the public has not seen in films till now. Filmmakers are now exploring these locations.
The second big factor is that along with Nagaland and Arunachal, many other states also have a decades-long history of conflict between tribal communities. In many places these struggles are still going on. There are also political and social conflicts in these states which can become the plot of films and give depth to the story. A large part of the Hindi speaking public of Bollywood is still not very familiar with the politics and social conflict of these states. In such a situation, criticism on social media regarding the story of the film can also be avoided.
The third big advantage is related to the cost of shooting the film. In 2017, the Chief Minister of Assam had announced a subsidy of up to 45% for films shot in the state. Steps are being taken to promote film tourism in the state for the last several years. Many types of permits and passes are required to shoot in Arunachal Pradesh. But in the last few years, single-window clearance has been started for these permissions, which has made it easier to shoot films there.
Meghalaya is also on its way to becoming film-friendly and many types of exemptions and subsidies are available for shooting films in the state. Similar facilities are also available in Nagaland, where the state is also working on its own film policy which will promote film tourism. Sikkim has even won the award for ‘Most Film Friendly’ State at the National Film Awards, 2021.
Beautiful pictures of the culture and locations of the North-East states have always attracted people’s attention. Now it remains to be seen how well Bollywood explores the beauty of this naturally gifted part of the country on the big screen.
