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It isn't every day that Big Bollywood paints the North East on its canvas. Even rarer is when they get it right. The Season 2 of the Amazon original Paatal Lok has earned rave reviews on that account; on how the Jaideep Ahlawat-starrer got Nagaland just right. But what about the location? Is all of Pataal Lok 2 shot in the locales they claim to show on screen?
No.
Take, for example, the hotel called Ruli in Kohima, the one that the Reddys are trying to sell. The striking white and green facade of the hotel is sure to make you wonder if it is a real place or a set the makers built up from scratch. The hotel exists. However, not in Kohima, but 850 kilometres west in West Bengal's Darjeeling.
title="The Elgin as Ruli in Paatal Lok 2" />The Elgin as Ruli in Paatal Lok 2. Screenshot: Amazon Prime Video
Ruli is The Elgin Darjeeling. The historical hotel is the crown jewel of the Queen of Hills, famous with anyone and everyone who has been to Darjeeling. The Elgin has been around for over a century. It is the most famous landmark in Darjeeling, and was once the summer home of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar.
In 1887, Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Cooch Behar built the place as a manor house, to serve as his summer residence. The Cooch Behars spent many summers in Darjeeling, a hill station 200 kilometres from their capital in the foothills of the Himalayas, where April-May-June meant temperatures in the 30-something-Celsius range.
title="The Elgin was built as a manor house for the Maharaja of Cooch Behar" />The Elgin was built as a manor house for the Maharaja of Cooch Behar
After Nripendra Narayan's death in 1911, the property passed on to his son and successor, Rajendra Narayan II. Later, it was leased to British families like the Pavions and Oakleys.
In 1965, Kuldip Chand Oberoi - the 'other Oberoi' of the Oberoi family of hoteliers - got his lifetime savings of Rs 3 lakh out and bought the place from Nancy Oakley, who it had been leased to. Oakley was running the place as a guest house that Oberoi had rented. Oberoi bought The Elgin. Three years later, when Oakley left India for England, Kuldip Chand Oberoi established and registered a firm called "New Elgin Hotel", with himself as the sole proprietor.
In 1975, the firm became a partnership firm, and subsequently, in 1995, transitioned into a private limited company. Brij Raj Oberoi, Kuldip's son, joined his father in assisting with the upkeep of The Elgin when he was only 20 years old.
Since then, the Elgin has undergone extensive refurbishment and restoration, and the Oberois have ensured that they retain the glory of the original manor house that the Maharaja of Cooch Behar had envisioned.
In the autumn of 1976, Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal, the Crown Prince of Sikkim, was at The Elgin after a football match against the local team. Sikkim won that match 3-1. When Brij Raj invited Namgyal for a drink at the hotel that evening, they got to talking about the place. The hotelier shared his plans of "modernising" the manor house. Namgyal was aghast.
"No! Never do that. It has taken decades to build this atmosphere - it's so personal! Nothing can substitute that."
Oberoi took Namgyal's advice in his stride and left Elgin the way it was.
title="The corridors of The Elgin are lined with frames of its famed guests" />The corridors of The Elgin are lined with frames of its famed guests
Today, stepping into The Elgin is stepping into a bygone era. You'll find period Burma teak furniture, fireplaces from the 1800s, lithographs by William Daniell. You'll also find framed photographs of the who's who who have visited The Elgin - and quite a list that is! From the Crown Prince of Sikkim, to French author Dominique Lapierre, and British journalist-author Mark Tully, the hotel was the only residence of choice in Darjeeling for guests for many decades. Add to that all the film stars who spent their holidays in Darjeeling.
In a place crowded with hotels, what is that attracts guests to The Elgin?
Well, the word's heritage.
The Oberois kept old-world charm in mind while doing up their portfolio of hotels in North Bengal and Sikkim. Their hotels score big on heritage. Nostalgia is a money-spinner, and the Oberois know it all too well. So, while the Elgins are now 'modernised' with all amenities that you need, there's still the awe of having crossed over to a different era, feet firm in this.
The Elgin group has enjoyed a largely unrivalled few decades in North Bengal and Sikkim, primarily because of just how politically volatile the area has been. All through the turbulent 2000s, Darjeeling has seen turmoil. Gorkhaland is a simmering issue that is only papered over by the West Bengal government. There are talks and elections, but the reality on the ground is still tense. Tourists here have mostly been from West Bengal, although things are evolving fast.
title="Jaideep Ahlawat in a still from Paatal Lok 2. Screenshot: Amazon Prime Video" />Jaideep Ahlawat in a still from Paatal Lok 2. Screenshot: Amazon Prime Video
For years, the bigger groups of hotels like the Taj, the Leela, and the EIH (East India Hotels) that own the Oberoi hotels, decided to stay away. It is only in December 2020 that Taj first arrived in Darjeeling, with Chia Kutir. The Oberois had Mount Everest in Darjeeling in the 50s, but a fire in the 70s swallowed the building. The hotel never reopened.
So, for The Elgin to bet on the area was also a gamble that paid off, one would say. Bollywood has been a fairweather friend with visits every now and then. Since Mere Sapnon Ki Rani on that toy train, it took the Hindi film industry many years to return to Darjeeling.
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Kalimpong is a fairly newer discovery for the industry. Sujoy Ghosh took Jaane Jaan to Kalimpong and Lamahatta in 2022. Kareena Kapoor Khan's reels and Instagram posts did the rest. Jaideep Ahlawat, who was also a lead actor in Jaane Jaan, returned to North Bengal for Paatal Lok 2.
Kalimpong, which is a little town (a district now) in between Siliguri and Darjeeling, also saw some of the Paatal Lok crew members camping there because Darjeeling alone simply cannot hold them all. There aren't too many fancy hotels in the area.
Manoj, the manager of Sterling Park Kalimpong, told me in December last year that the Paatal Lok 2 crew spent several days in the hotel. They set up their sound-recording equipment to catch the sounds of the night, which they would later use in the series. Sterling Park, which enjoys a rare location on top of a hill and boasts a 270-degree panorama, was only too happy to oblige. This hotel too belonged to a royal: it was the summer residence of the Maharaja of Dinajpur.
For Paatal Lok 2, Kalimpong and Darjeeling doubled up as Nagaland. The locales look good, the locals are happy, the series is a hit. What's not to like?