Not a day has gone by in last 4 yrs when I haven’t been asked about ‘Paatal Lok 2’: Jaideep Ahlawat

Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) Jaideep Ahlawat’s career can be split into two phases: before “Paatal Lok” and after “Paatal Lok”. The actor says there hasn’t been a single day since the web series premiered on May 15, 2020 when he wasn’t quizzed about its second season.

Ahlawat had already established himself as a dependable performer with films like “Gangs of Wasseypur”, “Khatta Meetha”, “Vishwaroopam”, and “Raazi” to his credit, but “Paatal Lok” made him a star overnight after it arrived on Prime Video during the peak of the pandemic.

Besides rave reviews from critics and viewers alike, industry seniors Manoj Bajpayee and Aamir Khan took notice of his performance as the worn-out Delhi Police cop Hathiram Chaudhary who lands a case of a lifetime in season one.  

“Everything changed after May 15, 2020… Genuinely, there hasn’t been a single day in the last four years when I haven’t been asked about ‘Paatal Lok 2’. There has not been a single day when no one has asked me to my face, on social media, or messaged me about this,” Ahlawat told PTI in an interview.

“If I post anything, there would be 25-30 comments like, ‘When is season two of ‘Paatal Lok’ coming?’ I wasn’t tired but as I didn’t have an answer to it, I would just say, ‘It will be out soon’,” he said.

Season one of “Paatal Lok”, directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware and Prosit Roy, saw Hathiram trying to solve the assassination attempt on a popular TV journalist, played by Neeraj Kabi.

Ahlawat, a graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India, recounted receiving a call from Bajpayee one late evening after the show became a success.

“He said a lot of things but one thing touched me. He said, ‘Yeh kaam dekh kar Jaideep, mujhe aisa laga maine ek workshop kar li apne aap ko revive karne ke liye’ (Watching your performance was like attending a workshop, it revived my passion for acting)

“I couldn’t hold my tears after hearing this and all I could say was, ‘Thank you’. Only an actor who understands cinema can say this. I’ve learnt a lot from Manoj bhai,” said the actor, who played Shahid Khan, the father of Bajpayee’s Sardar Khan in “Gangs of Wasseypur”.

One day, Khan made a video call to Ahlawat, 44, and asked him to detail his preparation process.

“I was surprised that he was so keen on knowing how I played the role. He was like, ‘What was the process? How did you prepare for it?’ When you hear it from Aamir sir, who is a king when it comes to preparing for a role… What should I say? But I did tell him about the phase I went through (before that show)”

The success of “Paatal Lok” led to many work opportunities for Ahlawat, who went on to feature in the ZEE5 series “The Broken News” and films such as “An Action Hero”, “Three of Us”, “Jaane Jaan”, and “Maharaj”, which marked the acting debut of Khan’s son Junaid.

The Haryana-born star said he hasn’t taken a “single holiday” in the last four years.

“Touchwood. It’s good. A lot of good stories came to me and I got the opportunity to work with many good people. Some films have been released, some of them will be released this year. The year is starting on a fabulous note with this (‘Paatal Lok 2’), so it will be all good.”

Written and created by Sudip Sharma, the upcoming second season will see Ahlawat reprise his role of Hathiram, who is set to unravel a new mystery in Nagaland. It is directed by Dhaware.

As part of his preparation for the new installment, the actor re-watched the first season to reconnect with his character’s past, especially his relationship with rookie cop Imran Ansari (Ishwak Singh) and his family. Ansari also returns in “Paatal Lok 2”, but this time as Hathiram’s senior.

“What was most interesting was when I started reading it, I couldn’t understand it. This world has subplots and other things that seemed off balance, but I kept reading it. “At some point, I felt I didn’t want to know the world of Nagaland, even though I knew the story and the arc… I didn’t want to understand those characters until and unless I went there and tried understanding them,” he said.

There was another challenge waiting for Ahlawat, who was coming off a lean physique from his previous film “Maharaj”. He had to gain around 20 kg to once again look the part of the middle-aged, weary cop.

“When you put on weight, your body starts reacting to that. You stop working out, so all your joints and muscles start paining. You can feel the weight, you can’t sleep on your stomach or flip sideways. Your breathing gets heavy, so you start snoring… But your mind is happy, so that’s an interesting phase.”

The actor will soon share the screen with Bajpayee in the third season of Prime Video series “The Family Man”.

Being with Bajpayee on set is a “learning” in itself, he said.

“I hope I get to work with him more because when you work with good actors you automatically do good acting, they do half your work… We didn’t have many scenes but whatever scenes we have are beautifully written. I hope the scenes are even better in the coming seasons. He is one of the finest actors we have,” he added.

Ahlawat has a string of upcoming projects, including a neo-noir thriller movie titled “Jewel Thief” with Saif Ali Khan, Sriram Raghavan’s war drama “Ikkis”, “Hisab” which reunites him with his “Three of Us” co-star Shefali Shah, and Aanand L Rai’s production feature “Hawai Fire”.

Going forward, the actor hopes to strike a work-life “balance”.

“I got stuck in between because I was shooting for four projects simultaneously at different locations. So, it’s very hectic. I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

The second season of “Paatal Lok” is set to premiere on January 17 on Prime Video.