Nagaland was a silent witness to Jaideep Ahlawat when he transformed into the lawman Hathiram Chaudhary for the second season of the acclaimed Paatal Lok. For The Family Man 3, the actor returned to the state, only this time his character was firmly on the other side of the law. “On day one, I remember thinking that my character is nothing like Hathiram Chaudhary. How do you process that? Then I realised that you don’t; you just enjoy both sides,” begins Ahlawat, who plays Rukma, the antagonist to Manoj Bajpayee’s Srikant Tiwari in the spy thriller.
The state and its politics have been a big part of Paatal Lok as well as the Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK creation. What’s different, Ahlawat reflects, is his character’s perspective. “There is a spot where I was standing as Hathiram once, and then later as Rukma. It’s the same place, two different men, but nobody can see [the similarity] because the art direction has changed so much. It’s an interesting feeling of being in the same place, but living a completely different life,” he says philosophically, before joking, “I’ve been shooting so much in Kohima that the Nagaland government should give me a house there!”
Manoj Bajpayee
House or not, Ahlawat is certainly being rewarded. The actor’s portrayal of a drug smuggler and hitman in the Prime Video series is being widely praised. He shares, “I finally got the chance to let loose without worrying about conscience or consequences. It felt liberating in a twisted way to play someone like Rukma.”
The cherry on top was his reunion with Bajpayee, over a decade after they shared screen space in Chittagong (2012) and Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). Tell him that their on-screen face-off was the most anticipated element of the new season, and he says it’s something he looked forward to as well. “Working with Manoj is like going back in time. There is a discipline that he brings. Doing an action scene together after all these years was a thrill. There is the greed to work with him, and this show is a dream come true!”
Ask Jaideep Ahlawat his most memorable sequence from the series, and he points to the elaborate action set-piece in the first episode — a gripping chase sequence between Manoj Bajpayee and him. “Manoj was driving the car, and I was riding the motorcycle [chasing him]. The camera didn’t have to cheat; it travelled from him all the way to me. There were no stuntmen involved. That’s my most memorable scene in this season,” he smiles.
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