Jaideep Ahlawat's masterful performance in 'Jaane Jaan' lays ground for a different kind of hero

Jaideep Ahlawat is a phenomenon in the world of acting. With his understated but emotionally laden performance in Sujoy Ghosh’s Jaane Jaan, he dazzles alongside Kareena Kapoor Khan and Vijay Varma. In a casting masterstroke, Ghosh’s film features two of India’s finest acting talents that have bloomed on OTT- Ahlawat and Varma- with scope to reach out to an audience that was hungry for leading men that they could relate with, and root for. Ahlawat’s consistent success over the past 5 years testifies to the game changing impact of OTT. That Khan chose this part highlights her desire to work in roles that explore the actor beyond the star, and to diversify as a performer.

Ahlawat plays the key character in this story- a regular man with an unremarkable life and unwavering routine. He is quiet, still, with emotions and intelligence running deep, just below the surface. In this performance, never once does he overstate or heighten the character’s conflict. Despite being central to the plot, he doesn’t overpower a scene. When he interacts with characters- be it Khan or Varma- one gets insights into his state of mind, with nuances like a broken smile, an expression speaking volumes. He is a trained FTII actor, amongst those that have found work in mainstream cinema after a period of waiting and working on small parts before getting his big break. Pataal Lok (2020) on Prime Video played a transformative part in making him popular, winning him awards and accolades. Before this, he won praise for his work in films like Raees (2017), Raazi (2018) and Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). Ahlawat would personalise a character in a manner that would make it impossible to place any other actor in that part, a mark of a seasoned performer. Jaane Jaan also features Vijay Varma, a fellow FTII graduate. He has also had to wait for the right opportunities like Ahlawat. Starting off with an impressive martial arts training scene, Varma plays his part with a lightness and casual humorous touch. Both have deliberately built a contrast in their personalities onscreen that immediately sets the pace of the story. Varma has delivered winning performances with Kaalkoot, (2023), Dahaad (2023) and Darlings (2022) recently.

Both actors have developed a fan base and found consistent success as well as opportunities with the growth of OTT content in India. The Hindi film industry was gradually waking up to the need for strong performers rather than stars in the past 10-12 years. Which is why both Ahlawat and Varma have acted in good parts on film. But placing them as the leading man, the face that sells tickets, wouldn’t have come naturally to an industry that depends on a cultivated, developed film star for hits. This is also the period where a popular hero, a bankable megastar in the tradition of Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, the Khans or Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, has not emerged. Talented actors have become stars with author-backed parts, but none have tasted stratospheric success regularly. The writing on the wall was clear for the film industry to see, if it was paying attention. The ‘stars’ of today are neither aspirational nor easy to relate with. Casting them in parts that needed a granular understanding of lived experiences of India would not flow naturally. Most wouldn’t look like a common person either.

This is just the space that Ahlawat can fill. Besides his acting prowess, he brings screen presence of the kind that is hard to ignore, and perhaps aspirational for young ‘stars’ of the current crop. Coupled with his versatility- Hathiram Choudhary of Pataal Lok, a police man coping with complexities of power play, or the manipulative journalist Deepankar Sanyal of The Broken News (2022)– he presents room for an alternate hero to emerge on the diversified Indian OTT screen. Bring him together with Varma for more stories, and one imagines that the range of performances this will create can actually enrich the scope of films and stories.

A chunk of India’s audience had migrated to dubbed content or international English content for some time as most Hindi films and TV serials had very little connection or innovation. OTT has filled this void partially. A lot of what is being made is run of the mill. But some Indian originals across platforms have stood out because they bring universal content that people can watch and relate to anywhere. It has opened up room for acting talent to flourish, especially turning the concept of the hero on its head. These performances are about people that feel real, vulnerable and convincing because they are flawed. Jim Sarbh, Ishwak Singh, Vijay Varma, Pankaj Tripathi, Pratik Gandhi, Ali Fazal and Jitendra Kumar are amongst them while Viveik Oberoi has reignited his career on this medium.

None can be called less than another, and that is also not a healthy trend to begin with, given the mindless ‘box office numbers 100 crore’ race that dominated Hindi film business conversations and then led nowhere. But Jaideep Ahlawat stays with you after you finish watching him in an episode or film because he combines an undertone star-like element with a solid performance. Do we see a different kind of superstar emerge with him?