Jaideep Ahlawat is overwhelmed with the positive response the web series Paatal Lok has garnered. The actor, who has the lead role in the show, says the appreciation gives him a "renewed sense of vigour" to approach future work. In the series, he essays Hathi Ram Chaudhary, a washed-out police officer in Delhi who is put on an extremely high-profile case.

"The time I heard the script for Hathi Ram's character in Paatal Lok, I was sure it is one of the best characters that I had ever been offered. I am extremely overwhelmed with the kind of responses that I am getting for the performance. People are admiring a police officer's character who is fighting through a corrupt system trying to prove his self-worth and seek justice in a post-truth world. I even received messages from people saying that they could very well relate to the character and the struggle. It feels great to see your work being appreciated by people. It gives me a renewed sense of vigour to do more such brilliant work. I am truly thankful for this brilliant opportunity and the appreciation I am receiving from all quarters.”

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In a recent live interaction with a leading daily, Jaideep said what attracted him to his character and said, “Hathi Ram’s journey intrigued me. He is a very vulnerable character. I was never offered such a role of a man who is a failure in life and is desperate to prove himself. It was a good change for me to play someone with such a nice arc and so many shades to his personality. So I just jumped at this opportunity.”

He further revealed a very interesting anecdote about his character’s name and the animal and spoke about the scene where he beats up his son’s tormentors and said, “I’ll tell you something interesting. See, an elephant is a lovely animal. But compared to its body, its eyes are very small, so it is never able to see its huge body, hence it never gets to know its real power. At the point of this particular scene, Hathi Ram is facing a crisis. He has lost his job and respect, and now he is on the verge of losing his son. So he cannot take that and the elephant in him comes out. That scene becomes important because the son gets to see for the first time that his father is not someone you can mess with.”

Paatal Lok also stars Abhishek Banerjee, Neeraj Kabi, Vipin Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Jagjeet Sandhu, Rajesh Sharma, Ishwak Singh, Niharika Lyra Dutta and several others. The show went live on Amazon Prime Video on May 15.

(Source: IANS/Indian Express)