Ever since its release, Paatal Lok has been getting a lot of appreciation from the audience. Whether, it is performances, direction or writing, the web series has managed to make it to the hearts of the people.
Where everything was going right, now the producer of the show Anushka Sharma has been served with a legal notice for using a casteist slur in the series.
Viren Sri Gurung a member of the Lawyers Guild that has been formed to provide free legal advice in the time of the COVID-19 crisis and associated to the Chambers of Mr Pranay Rai & Associates, has sent a legal notice to Anushka Sharma (co-producer of Paatal Lok) on 18 May for a casteist slur used in the show.
Gurung said that the word which appears in the second episode is insulting to the entire Nepali community.
“There is a clip wherein during an interrogation a lady police officer uses a casteist slur on a Nepali character. There wouldn’t have been any problem had only ‘Nepali’ been used. But the word that follows it is unacceptable. Since Anushka Sharma is one of the producers of the show, we have served her a notice”, Gurung said.
He added that he is yet to receive a response from Anushka, failing which the legal team will take the matter forward with the OTT platform streaming it, Amazon Prime Video, and others involved in the series.
As per a media report, the Gorkha community has taken strong objection to the casteist slur in Paatal Lok, demanding that the word be dropped.
In an online petition started by them and addressed to the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the Minister Prakash Javadekar, Amazon Prime Video and series producer Anushka Sharma, the community said that this slur portrayed the Gorkha women in a poor light.
They asserted that the word should be muted, subtitles blurred and the edited video should be made available to all. Apart from that, the Gorkhas have also demanded an unconditional apology and a disclaimer.
For the uninitiated, starring Jaideep Ahlawat, Gul Panag, Neeraj Kabi, Abhishek Banerjee, Swastika Mukherjee in lead roles, Paatal Lok focuses on ‘swarg lok’ (heaven), ‘dharti lok’ (earth) and ‘paatal lok’ (netherworld).
Anushka Sharma: Success of Paatal Lok is because of its content
