The incredibly versatile Jaideep Ahlawat, who turns 44 On February 8th, speaks to Subhash K Jha about his rewarding journey as an actor, including touching on working on Paatal Lok Season 1 and then returning to Season 2 plus so much more.
A lot has changed in your career since Season 1 of Paatal Lok. How do you look on this journey?
It’s been four or five years from season one to season two, and definitely a lot has been changed. I’ve received so much love from the audience and from the directors and writers. I’ve got very good opportunities to work on different kinds of films. I love this journey so far. I hope I’ll get amazing projects from great writers, directors, new stories, and hopefully get the roles that challenge me. So far, so good.
What was it like to be reunited with the Paatal Lok team?
Oh, it’s been amazing to reunite with the same cast and crew, almost like 90-95% of them, even the crew was same, all the HODs were same. So I think that was also one reason, one of the reasons, you know, it took some time to shoot Season Two: we wanted as many team members from Season One as possible. It was amazing because when you work with the same people, in terms of season one and season two, most of the things are very easy to handle because they know each other and they understand each other very precisely. So yeah, it was amazing.
At this juncture of your career, what do you seek from your scripts?
Not at any particular juncture, I always, you know, hope to find new stories, new kinds of characters, something, you know, which, which is new, and I could challenge myself with them or explore myself more as an actor as a human being. So yeah, it’s always a good thing to get and offered by new kinds of characters, new challenges.
What do you expect from yourself this year?
Well, 2025, I would say I would love to come out with a few good projects for the audience, which I love playing them. Hopefully, the audience will also love them, be surprised by them, maybe new things, new characterizations, and which I like to do. So hopefully, I will make the audience happy and entertained and, you know, surprised, maybe.
What can we expect from Jaideep Ahlawat in Netflix’s Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins?
Well, I tried something new, something new look-wise, and something new in the character. Hopefully, I think people will love it, and the audience will love it. We tried a different shade of an actor, of a character. I hope people will love it.
