He’s more publicly recognised than ever before—he’s getting used to more airport selfies. A wider range of roles is available to him, which wasn’t the case earlier. In the early years, Ahlawat was typecast as an antagonist. While this kind of pigeonholing is common in Bollywood, which never quite knows what to do with an unconventional-looking actor, Ahlawat managed to escape that box quite quickly.
Ahlawat is among a generation of actors that has benefitted from mainstream cinema’s growing interest in credible storylines, well-rounded characters, and performances rooted in realism. His progress has been steady and sure, through loud performances and understated portrayals.
In recent years, his characters have had fleshed-out arcs, inner lives, and mushy hearts. In an episode in the anthology series Lust Stories (2018), Ahlawat plays the lover of a married woman. In Three of Us (2022), co-starring Shefali Shah, he portrays the childhood crush of a woman who has early onset dementia and wants to revisit her past before it slips away. Ahlawat’s character writes poetry and often communicates through meaningful looks and silences; very different from the roles of his early days.
This year, Ahlawat will be in at least three films and an unspecified number of shows, including Ikkis, Jewel Thief, Hisaab and the second season of Paatal Lok. There’s something unexpected in each of them. Jewel Thief, which also has Saif Ali Khan, is a “high-voltage, high-speed heist thriller with lots of tech and Bollywood masala,” says Ahlawat. “I dance in it. For Hisaab, I have reunited with Shefali Shah, and I have danced in this film, too.”
Slow and steady
Ahlawat is among a generation of actors that has benefitted from mainstream cinema’s growing interest in credible storylines, well-rounded characters, and performances rooted in realism. His progress has been steady and sure, through loud performances and understated portrayals, between bit roles and prominent parts.
Born in 1980 in a village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, Ahlawat acted in plays during college and university, while attempting to enrol in the Indian Army. He couldn’t clear the Army exams despite repeated attempts, but he did get into the Film and Television Institute (FTII). An alumnus of the 2008 batch, he was one of 20 acting students, including future notables such as Rajkummar Rao, Vijay Varma and Pitobash Tripathi, among others. “When you join a place like FTII, your mind opens up. You understand the merit of every filmmaking department. You understand the craft of acting and how to make it your own. You are part of an amazing ensemble. It’s not a one-man army. Every piece of the puzzle fits together to make a whole picture and a beautiful canvas,” he shares.
The path from Pune led, as it has for generations of FTII students, to Mumbai. And while Bollywood can be shocking, cutthroat, and even soul-destroying, Ahlawat saw it differently. “It’s like you are going into a battlefield and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says. “You equip yourself with as many weapons as possible and see which weapon works in which situation. When I entered the Hindi film industry, I knew that I would get work. But the bigger challenge was to gain trust.”
The building blocks for that trust were initially modest. You might have spotted Ahlawat in the crowd as a politician in his first credited release, the comedy Khatta Meetha (2010). That same year, he had a longer role in the political drama Aakrosh, as one of several baddies who is killed before the end credits. But it was Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) that gave an early indication of the strapping actor’s talent for standing out in an ensemble cast. Ahlawat’s Shahid Khan is the one who sets the multi-generational tale of revenge into motion. Even though he dies early, his ferocity and ambition hang over the sprawling narrative.
Gangs is what Ahlawat calls one of his periodic breakthroughs. “There have been different turning points,” he recalls. “First was Gangs of Wasseypur. Then came Commando. Then Raazi and then Paatal Lok.” Commando: A One Man Army (2013), despite its title, wasn’t a one-man show. Ahlawat played the irredeemable Amrit Kanwal Singh, aka AK-74, whose perverse interest in a woman brings him in direct conflict with Vidyut Jammwal’s Army officer. While Jammwal had the jaw-dropping stunts, Ahlawat had the over-the-top, scenery-chewing moments. “You can’t relate to AK-74 and yet, you have to be able to believe in him and what is happening to him,” Ahlawat points out. This is also his simple approach to all his roles: “I am this guy, and I am doing this with 100 per cent belief.”
Perhaps Ahlawat was too convincing as AK-74. Not only was he offered similar parts, but he was also in danger of being boxed a villain—until Raazi (2017) came along, in which he played mentor to an undercover spy (Alia Bhatt). The film garnered both critical acclaim and box-office success.
However, a couple of years later came the role that alchemised Ahlawat’s career—with some help from a global health crisis.
