Long after the credits of Paatal Lok roll, Hathoda Tyagi stays with you. At first glance, he may be a ruthless serial killer; but over nine episodes, you see that he is a victim of society, avenging the rape of his sisters in a world that offers neither justice nor redemption. “My effort was to break down the complications that the character had. I wanted him to be human, not a demon,” says Abhishek Banerjee. With his haunting eyes and barely-there dialogues, Banerjee’s performance as the silent killing machine has bagged him a nomination in the Best Supporting Actor (Series) category at the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards.

From the moment he read the script, the actor found himself empathising with the character. “One could’ve easily slotted him as a scary villain. But when he dies, you understand that in his heart, he was Vishal Tyagi, not Hathoda. By the end of his journey, the human in him lives on.”