Actor Jaideep Ahlawat was a familiar OTT face this year, and had a string of projects that were released including ‘Bloody Brothers’, ‘The Broken News’, and the anthology 'Tryst With Destiny’. He also had a lone feature film ‘An Action Hero’, alongside Ayushmann Khurrana that was released earlier this month. Despite positive reviews from critics and fans, the film didn’t perform well at the box office.
Now, speaking in an interview, Jaideep spoke about why he doesn’t have expectations for his projects. While he shared that the intention behind making a film is that as many people can see it as possible, sometimes things don’t work out. Jaideep explained, “I mean surely, after a film’s failure there is some introspection about what might have gone wrong about the film? It’s getting almost unanimously positive reviews, but people aren’t going to the theatres to watch it.”
He added, “It’s slightly disheartening, and it’s not a feeling anyone likes to soak in. It’s the hard work of so many people, so it’s obviously not a nice feeling. But no, I don’t become anxious about it.”
Jaideep also said, “It's a smart film, it is fast-paced, it has humour, it has action. Anyone who has seen it has only said nice things to me about the film, so it can get a little confusing when people at large don't come to watch the film. But it's okay." Taking a philosophical approach, the actor said, "It's a phase, sometimes it pans out and sometimes it doesn't. No point beating oneself for it. I think as a society we're still not at the point where we're going to the theatres like we used to, in the pre-pandemic times. I think aadat thodi kam padh gayi hai [we're less used to it]. It's my personal theory, but hopefully this phase ends and we tide through it.”
On the work front, Jaideep will be next in Sujoy Ghosh's ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’ with Kareena Kapoor and Vijay Varma. His other feature project, ‘Three of Us’, recently premiered at the International Film Festival of Goa in November. Directed by Avinash Arun, the film also stars Shefali Shah and Swanand Kirkire.