New Delhi, “It’s never the hero’s story, it’s the story that finds its hero,” says actor Jaideep Ahlawat, who credits his early introduction to literature and his struggles for providing him with countless references to portray a wide range of characters.

Despite making it big with critically-acclaimed performances in movies such as “Raazi”, “Three of Us”, “An Action Hero” and crime drama series “Paatal Lok”, Ahlawat said he doesn’t mind auditioning for a role.

“I still give auditions, in fact, I gave one recently. If there’s a director who wants to tell a story, and he isn’t able to visualise me in that role, it’s his right to see me in that get-up, performing a scene. That way, he can decide whether or not I’ll be able to do justice to the character,” Ahlawat said.

The actor was speaking at a masterclass session, titled ‘The Stillness That Shakes The Screen’, during the Jagran Film Festival here.

Ahlawat said it was his father who introduced him to literature at a very young age.

“And I realised one thing – it’s never the hero’s story, it’s the story that finds its hero. It’s as simple as that. Every story has a hero, and that hero can come from anywhere. If you choose the hero first, it’s not necessary that a story will emerge. But if you choose the story, the hero will reveal itself.

“In one lifetime, a person may not meet a thousand people or a thousand characters, but through Premchand’s stories alone, they will encounter at least a thousand characters,” he said.

The actor also said that his personal journey, from his native village in Haryana to various cities in India, exposed him to diverse people, who often serve as a library of real-life references.

“I’m a boy who came from a village, then moved to Rohtak, from there to Pune, and eventually to Bombay. Along the way, I gathered countless references that now help me bring different characters to life,” he said.

“During ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, somebody asked me what kind of preparation it took to play a coal mine worker. Honestly, nothing – because I had already worked in the fields. All I had to do was pick up a spade instead of a sickle,” he added.

Ahlawat said in his career, he has been offered many characters that were older than him. But he has never shied away from playing them, whether it was RAW agent Manav from Meghna Gulzar’s “Raazi”, Hathiram Chaudhary from “Paatal Lok” or Naren from Sujoy Ghosh’s “Jaane Jaan”.

“It happened by chance because I came across such stories. As an actor, you also feel that the potential of the character you’re playing outweighs the fact that they are older than you. I found those stories so beautiful that I simply couldn’t say no to them,” he said.

The actor revealed that the script of “Raazi” described his character as being in his early 50s.

“I asked Mehgna, ‘Why me? You can pitch this character to many actors who are in this age group?’ I never got an answer to this question. She just gave me a slight smile and didn’t answer.

“But how could I say no to a film like ‘Raazi’? The character is 15-20 years older than me, and it required a great deal of effort to make him appear believable. You have to work on voice, posture and a lot of other things.”

When he was approached by Sudip Sharma for the role of Hathiram, Ahlawat said he knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“I was the luckiest actor on the planet. Sudip said ‘Let him read the script. If he rejects it we will take another actor.’ But any smart actor will not reject this role and I was that smart actor,” he said.

“Until you are not accepted as an actor, you don’t have many choices. You can’t even choose scripts. Whatever you get, you try to do it. And it’s a phase that lasts till you make it big,” he added.

The show gave Ahlawat the power to choose his next projects, which included “Jaane Jaan” that saw him playing the role of a brilliant mathematics teacher, Naren.

“It was my decision to choose ‘Jaane Jaan’. However, as an actor, you might step away from the film, saying you don’t want to look like that on screen,” he said.

Ahlawat added that the film’s director, Sujoy Ghosh, was hesitant to disclose details about the character’s appearance.

“He thought I might say no to the movie. He pitched it as a love story between beauty and the beast. And I wondered who is the beast here? And then he showed me the character sketch. And I was hooked by it, just imagining myself as that character. I was half convinced then and there only.

“Now it is my responsibility to not feel scared by this offer and think that it will again take me back to a category of middle aged characters. Such a mindset is not great for me. I thought I shouldn’t take a step back from this.”

As an actor, Ahlawat said that while he approaches his work with seriousness, he does not take himself too seriously.

“Many actors take themselves too seriously, and in the process, they remain unhappy… Someone once asked me, you’ve done so much, how do you stay grounded? I believe it doesn’t take any effort to remain grounded.

“What takes effort is building propaganda around yourself – hiring bodyguards, appointing a big PR team… that costs money, time, and energy. But to stay normal, you don’t need to use your mind at all. The day you truly need bodyguards, you won’t have to announce it yourself – people around you will tell you it’s time,” he added.

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