Disclaimer: This article contains mild spoilers for the show Paatal Lok, now streaming on Prime Video.

The second season of the acclaimed web series, Paatal Lok, is out, and this time, many things are new. An important one of which is the inclusion of a queer character in the narrative.

Most Indian web series and movies’ representation of a queer character is flawed at best, with overly dramatic depictions of the characters that fit into how society views a queer person—different, exotic, and often worthy of no respect.

Horrendously stereotypical films like Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani are sadly the norm when it comes to depicting gay love. That’s precisely why Paatal Lok looks and feels different from the mediocre crowd.

Here’s what the show got right about queer life and what they could have done better:

Humorous normalcy of the coming-out experience

ACP Imran Ansari, played by Ishwak Singh, is forced to come out to his fellow officer, Hathi Ram Chaudhary, played by Jaideep Ahlawat, after the latter discovers that Ansari is in love with a man and not a woman.

Here, the awkwardness is palpable between the two characters, as is often the case when people hereto unaware of the LGBTQIA+ community come across a person belonging to it.

The scene does not have any overt displays of either anger or support, choosing to instead focus on the battles that Ansari and Singh are fighting, one of queer panic and the other of incomprehension.

Later Ansari tells Chaudhary that he wanted to tell him long ago, but couldn’t because of the “department.” This is an accurate representation of one of the primary reasons queer people don’t come out at work: reputation, of both the individual and the system in general.

Chaudhary’s response to Ansari’s confession is a humorous take on how people who don’t understand queerness often become the biggest supporters of it.

Paatal Lok has gotten the experience of coming out right, without making it all about a dramatic reveal, thereby normalising difficult conversations in a setting that feels comfortably familiar.

Gay, but not just for the plotline

Many movies like Gulmohar and shows like Big Girls Don’t Cry have queer characters who don’t feel real. They are forced, as if put on the screen to tick the diversity boxes and show the world that the filmmakers are progressive.

Paatal Lok, thankfully, does not do the same. The show is a mystery thriller throughout, and the introduction of a queer character does not change this central theme.

ACP Ansari is not just a queer police officer but a police officer who happens to be queer. There is no attempt to pry into his private life with his partner. The show doesn’t feel like a queer-sensitisation workshop and focuses on the subtle ways in which queer people exist in real life.

Strong, if not fully informed, allies.

Hathi Ram Chaudhary, the man Ansari first comes out to at work, is not shown in the show as a person who understands everything about his colleague immediately. But he supports him in ways that are amply made clear on multiple instances. Neither does he stop addressing Ansari with the honorific of ‘sir,’ nor does he question his identity after knowing the truth. There are no cliched questions like “When did you first know?’ Or ‘Does your family know about you?”

The character may not be fully informed about the community, but is the perfect example of how support sometimes comes from a place of pure love and respect, if not knowledge.

Inclusion of queer actors missing

Paatal Lok’s representation of a queer character is accurate. But what is missing is the inclusion of an openly queer actor. While the debate about whether only queer people can play queer characters is a tricky one, openly LGBTQIA+ actors have a significantly tougher time in the entertainment industry when compared to their straight colleagues.

Thus, they need more opportunities to show their talent, and what better way to do that than to play a queer character?

Paatal Lok may not be nominated for any awards and does not break new ground when it comes to queer cinema. But what it does offer is a more mature, more realistic template to filmmakers wanting to depict queer stories, making it a must-watch for all.