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The talented actor is a much happier man today. A lot of good work is on offer, giving him opportunities to display his versatile acting skills. What else can he ask for?
Jaideep Ahlawat was recently seen in Paatal Lok Season 2. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Anyone who had watched the crime thriller Paatal Lok’s Season 1 (2020), created by Sudip Sharma, would have been pleased after Season 2 arrived on Amazon Prime Video. And, why not? Season 1 is a masterpiece. Revolving around a cop who is down in the dumps and gets an opportunity to investigate a failed assassination attempt, the fast-paced police procedural that also explores the society with its discrimination, politics and hypocrisy is far more complex and engaging than the standard crime-and-punishment story. After the series ends, one is left with the indelible memory of the cop. His name: Hathiram Chaudhary. The actor who played him: Jaideep Ahlawat.
The second season is, yet again, a lot more than a run-of-the-mill police procedural. Compared to S1, the world in which the plot is situated is darker and completely unfamiliar. The ghastly act of an influential leader’s murder takes Hathiram to Nagaland, whose society and politics aren’t easy to comprehend. As the cop with an imperfect personal life who encounters greed, corruption, drugs and brutal murders, Ahlawat’s performance ensures that we cannot take our eyes off him.
Pataal Lok may be the most popular work of Jaideep Ahlawat, but it is not the only time he has proved he is an exceptional actor. It was in 2023 that he appeared in Sujoy Ghosh’s mystery thriller Jaane Jaan (Netflix), a well-made film in which he excelled in the role of a reclusive teacher. He brought out the character’s body language and sense of isolation wonderfully to emerge as the scene-stealer.
Jaane Jaan starred a mainstream star like Kareena Kapoor Khan in the central role – she was solid as a single mother – but it was an ideal OTT film destined to find excellent viewership among Netflix viewers. Which, it did, making it an instance of well-made OTT content that appeals to many viewers and gives great opportunities to actors like Ahlawat.
It is good to see mainstream stars work in the OTT space, as Saif Ali Khan has done as the world-weary Sikh policeman with low self-esteem in directors Anurag Kashyap (Seasons 1 and 2), Vikramaditya Motwane (Season 1) and Neeraj Ghaywan’s (Season 2) epic crime series Sacred Games (Netflix, two seasons in 2018-19).
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whose list of fine performances is a long one, shone as a ruthless mobster who was missing for 16 years. While Saif failed to make an impact in Ali Abbas Zafar’s mediocre political drama Tandav (Amazon Prime Video, 2021), he is an early starter among big screen stars who have worked for OTT platforms.
For creators, a web series is an opportunity to create a story with detailed subplots and depth in characterisation. For actors, too, portraying nuanced characters is a challenge they are happy to accept. Veteran Manoj Bajpayee plays an intelligent officer with health issues who smokes, drinks, and is super-efficient as an intelligence officer in Raj & DK’s action drama The Family Man (Amazon Prime Video, two seasons, 2019-present).
Five years after he appeared as Tiwari for the first time, Bajpayee played the dual roles of a husband who finds himself in a financial trap and a masseuse who has an affair with a married woman in Abhishek Chaubey’s crime thriller Killer Soup (Netflix, 2024). Bajpayee has done justice to his diverse characters in a way only he can, proving why he is considered one of the best actors in the Hindi entertainment industry.
The big-budget film industry has its preferences, and Kay Kay Menon is not one of them. For Menon, creator, co-writer, and co-director Neeraj Pandey’s espionage thriller Special OPS (Hotstar, 2020) was a fine opportunity to sink his teeth into the titular role. And, he did that brilliantly, making his character of an intelligence agent memorable. A familiar face for OTT subscribers, Menon, in recent times, has delivered another fine performance as Shekhar Home, the titular character based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s sleuth Sherlock Holmes in the crime thriller Shekhar Home created by Aniruddha Guha and Srijit Mukherjee (JioCinema, 2024).
Makers of web series work with more freedom compared to their counterparts in films. Casting can result in unusual choices, as was seen in the biographical financial drama Scam 1992—The Harshad Mehta Story (SonyLIV, 2020), directed by Hansal Mehta and co-directed by Jai Mehta. The search for the right person to play the stockbroker Harshad Mehta, who became notorious during the 1992 Indian stock market scam, led to Gujarati stage and film actor Pratik Mehta, who excelled in the role.
Directed by Tushar Hiranandani and co-directed by Hansal Mehta, Scam 2003: The Telgi Story (SonyLIV, 2023) revolves around the real-life story of stamp paper counterfeiting by Abdul Karim Telgi. The second instalment in the Scam franchise, it stars Gagan Dev Riar as the protagonist. Many viewers saw Riar on the screen for the first time after the series was released. The actor played the counterfeiter with assured ease, which ensured its realistic appeal.
For any gifted actor who seeks diversity, OTT opportunities are synonymous with the possibility of playing a wide range of characters in shows of different genres. Vijay Varma was superb as the pilot-in-command in Anubhav Sinha’s crime thriller IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack (Netflix, 2024), based on the real-life hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. And, those who have watched Jasmeet K. Reen’s black comedy Darlings (Netflix, 2022) will agree that Varma has made them despise his character of an alcoholic, wife-abusing husband.
It is often said, and rightly so, that OTT is an urban medium in India. Yet, director Deepak Kumar Mishra’s web series Panchayat (Amazon Prime Video, three seasons, 2020-present), which has been journeying to North Indian interiors, has numerous fans. Jitendra Kumar has become hugely popular as Sachivji, or Secretary, of a village panchayat. Panchayat has appealed to viewers because of its wonderful depiction of rural life in Phulera, a fictional village in Uttar Pradesh. The biggest beneficiary of acting in the series is Kumar, whose sachivji is his most significant route to recognition.
Creating OTT shows is a relatively new experience for Indian content creators. However, they have explored a variety of genres, right from social dramas to crime. Crime shows are in plenty, some of them popular. The blood-soaked Amazon Prime Video crime drama Mirzapur (2018-present, three seasons), created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna, takes us deep inside a world where goondagiri, illegal activities, power struggles and coarse spoken language rule. The series has produced some memorable characters, the mafia don and carpet exporter played by Pankaj Tripathi the best-written role among them.
For a fine actor like Tripathi, OTT is a blessing. Another instance of a first-rate performance from him was his role of the street-smart advocate in the legal drama Criminal Justice (Hotstar, 2019-2022, three instalments) helmed by Tigmanshu Dhulia (Season 1), Vishal Furia (Season 1), Rohan Sippy (Seasons 2 and 3) and Arjun Mukherjee (Season 2). Tripathi has imparted distinguishing qualities to his characters in Mirzapur and Criminal Justice almost effortlessly because of the opportunity to play such well-written characters. As is the case with several actors, such OTT roles have made valuable contributions to his body of work.
A lot is on offer for the talented actor today. Be it seniors or those who entered the scene much later, times are good for those capable of doing justice to exciting OTT roles. What else can these actors ask for? Nothing else, as they pick and choose their work – instead of making that odd reluctant compromise.
The writer, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature, cinema and pop culture. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.