Indian actor Jaideep Ahlawat stars as Crime Branch Superintendent Rajveer Singh Tomar in the thriller film Drishyam: The Conclusion, currently running in Indian cinemas, where he faces off against Ajay Devgn’s character without ever raising his voice, de.martincid.com reported.
From Army Aspirations to the Film and Television Institute of India
Born on February 8, 1980, in Kharkara, a village in the Rohtak district of Haryana, Ahlawat grew up in a Hindu Jat family with ambitions of pursuing an officer’s career in the Indian Army. He participated in the Services Selection Board interview process multiple times, but faced rejection on every occasion. Theatre productions in Punjab and Haryana eventually provided a permanent direction for his career. He studied at Jat College in Rohtak and completed a master’s degree in English at Maharshi Dayanand University in 2005. Following his university studies, he enrolled in the acting course at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, graduating alongside peers Rajkummar Rao and Vijay Varma before relocating to Mumbai in 2008.
Early Villains and The Breakthrough in Gangs of Wasseypur
Early roles in Mumbai cast Ahlawat as an antagonist. Director Priyadarshan cast him in Khatta Meetha and in the action thriller Aakrosh, which paired him opposite Ajay Devgn sixteen years before their subsequent confrontation in an interrogation room. His career marked a turning point with Anurag Kashyap’s 2012 crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1. Ahlawat portrayed Shahid Khan, the bandit whose murder triggers the multi-decade feud at the center of the narrative, and the father of the character played by Manoj Bajpayee. Ahlawat has frequently described the project as life-changing, though subsequent film offers largely replicated the same menacing archetype, including roles as Salim in Kamal Haasan’s espionage thriller Vishwaroopam and its sequel, a small-town tyrant pursued by Vidyut Jammwal in Commando: A One Man Army, a Central Bureau of Investigation officer in Gabbar Is Back, and an appearance in Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees. A notable departure came in Meghna Gulzar’s 2018 spy drama Raazi, in which he played Khalid Mir, an intelligence handler who trains Alia Bhatt’s character for a clandestine mission in Pakistan.
The Streaming Shift and Paatal Lok
The expansion of streaming platforms shifted the types of roles offered to Ahlawat. Following an appearance in the Netflix spy series Bard of Blood, he took on the lead role in Sudip Sharma’s Amazon Prime Video crime series Paatal Lok, which premiered in May 2020. He played Hathi Ram Chaudhary, a sidelined inspector at a Delhi-periphery police station tasked with investigating an assassination attempt, who views the case as a final opportunity to prove himself. The performance earned him the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. When the series returned for a second season set in Nagaland, Ahlawat received the same acting prize at the December ceremony.
Recent Film Performances and Character Roles
Subsequent years brought a wider variety of characters across film and television. In the action comedy An Action Hero, he played Bhoora Solanki, a muscular Haryana native pursuing Ayushmann Khurrana’s character to London, earning a Filmfare nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Avinash Arun’s drama Three of Us cast him in a contrasting, restrained role as a quiet man living in the Konkan region who reconnects with a former romantic partner played by Shefali Shah. Sujoy Ghosh’s Jaane Jaan, an adaptation of Keigo Higashino’s novel The Devotion of Suspect X, featured him as Naren Vyas, a reclusive mathematics teacher protecting his neighbor, played by Kareena Kapoor, while an old school acquaintance investigated by Vijay Varma probes the case. He also portrayed a religious leader in Hansal Mehta’s historical legal drama Maharaj, centered around the 1862 libel trial.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jaideep Ahlawat
Where did Jaideep Ahlawat study acting?
He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, completing the acting course alongside fellow actors Rajkummar Rao and Vijay Varma.
Which film does Jaideep Ahlawat credit with changing his life?
Ahlawat has credited Anurag Kashyap’s 2012 crime film Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 as the project that transformed his career after he played the bandit Shahid Khan.
What role won Jaideep Ahlawat his first Filmfare OTT Award?
He won the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary in the Amazon Prime Video series Paatal Lok.