Jaideep Ahlawat says Gangs of Wasseypur’s success didn’t change things drastically; remembers being offered ‘weird’ villainous roles after

“No one thought it would become iconic. We all knew that we were making a good film. And I think I was the last person to feel that isse kuch hoga mera (this film would do wonders for my career),” the actor said. However, he added that most of the cast and crew of Gangs of Wasseypur are still in the business.

When asked if he’d call the film a turning point in his career, Jaideep Ahlawat said that it was definitely a move but he wasn’t showered with good work after that. “I did get Vishwaroopam with Kamal Haasan sir because of GoW. I also did Commando but there were a lot of bad scripts after that. Everyone just wanted me to do some weird villainous roles. I waited quite a long before Raazi came up.”

‘Gangs of Wasseypur changed many lives’

The actor also mentioned that he realised the magic of the film when they attended the Cannes Film Festival and saw people’s reactions. “We would wonder aisa kya kar diya hai humne. While filming, we never realised that. People were genuinely crazy about the film and I think that made it iconic. It has definitely changed a lot of people’s lives.”

Jaideep Ahlawat also took a ride down memory lane as he recalled his time in Banaras beyond the shooting hours of Gangs of Wasseypur. He shared that they would all wake up early in the morning and eat at the restaurant below their hotel. Given they were shooting in remote locations and had no security of food being available, they would fill their stomachs and even pockets with the food. “We didn’t know if we would get food. There have been actually days when there were just dal and chawal, that too bad quality. Some days there would be very good food too. But to avoid being hungry, hum pet bhar ke kha lete the,” he shared.

Jaideep Ahlawat will soon be seen in Jaane Jaan, Sujoy Ghosh’s film for Netflix. It also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Vijay Varma.