Jaideep Ahlawat and Prajakta Koli speak about Hawkeye and Ash’s relationship in Marvel’s Wastelanders

Last week, at an event in Mumbai, new Hindi Audible Original podcast titled Marvel’s Wastelanders was launched. The upcoming audio series has paired an interesting mix of Indian talent with Saif Ali Khan as Star Lord, Kareena Kapoor as Black Widow, Sharad Kelkar as Wolverine among others. The six-part series will be premiered in June 2023. (Also read: Interview: Saif Ali Khan jokes he joined Marvel’s Wastelanders because ‘they pay well’)

Jaideep Ahlawat and Prajakta Koli were also named as characters of this new alternate universe. Jaideep was named as Hawkeye, one of the few surviving Avengers in the dystopian future, while Prajakta takes on the part of his estranged daughter Ash. After the event, the actors talked to Hindustan Times about their characters and their broken relationship with one another, along with this new opportunity to bring the Marvel universe to a Hindi-speaking audience in India.

While they couldn’t say much about any plot details, Jaideep shared a bit about this different version of Hawkeye. He said, “The character is such that he’s been alone for 30 years and has been waiting for the right moment to strike back and win. He’s very restless and heartbroken.”

In this alternate universe, the villains defeated the superheroes in an epic battle that killed Hawkeye’s friends like Iron Man and Thor. Prajakta shared a bit of backstory about Ash. She stated, “She was nine years old when Hawkeye left. She doesn’t know Hawkeye yet. She knows that Hawkeye is her father but she never got to have a relationship with him. But there is that respect and mutual father-daughter relationship, because when she gets in trouble, she goes to him first.”

The actor continued, “What happens with her is, she loses the love of her life in a freak accident that happens. That is her motivation, because she’s young and impulsive. She thinks that whoever has done this, I’ll finish them. And she goes to her father, that I need you to help me and that’s when she realises that my father has his own mission.”

They combine their agendas of revenge and work together to bring to an end those who have been controlling this new dystopian time. Both actors admitted that their first thoughts when approached for this audio project was that they couldn’t believe they were chosen.

“As exciting as it is, it’s a massive jump for me,” Prajakta shared. “There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with a title like Marvel and Audible. But at the same time, I think the fact that I got to work with people who made this so easy for me, made a huge difference.”

Jaideep added that initially he thought the project was going to be recorded in English and was relieved to know it was in Hindi. “That’s an interesting thing that you’re taking that world and bringing it here to us, for the Hindi-speaking audience. Then I had to learn about Marvel closely. I didn’t know a lot. I also got an opportunity to learn the world,” he added.

While Jaideep, who was last seen in An Action Hero, has yet to record his portions as he had been out of town, Prajakta has almost completed her part. She spoke about being surprised about her performance in this medium.

She revealed, “I went into the studios so clueless because this platform suprises you in ways when you wear your headphones and you go in front of the mic. Sometimes you think you have to say a line this way, but it doesn’t sound that way. Then you suddenly realise that this is not how I thought I would say it. Sometimes it’s a good thing, you’re surprised pleasantly, sometimes you’re like that came out wrong. In all honesty, I really didn’t have a process that I followed. I kind of took it episode by episode, scene by scene and I liked where we took Ash.”

Jaideep added that he follows a similar technique even when he is on set. “Don’t think over it too much,” he explained. “Just feel it. You’ve read it and now you have a feel of the character and the understanding of it, how the relationships are, how is the mental status, etc. But don’t design it. Because then you kind of block yourself to experiment. I do it blankly anyways. Even when I’m shooting for a normal shoot, I go blank on set. My preparation is not that I will sit here and go there. I work on the feel level of the character.”

Prajakta went to praise the production behind the Hindi podcast and shared, “You realise that every time you don’t need a visual medium to tell a story. If this can be done so beautifully, that means there is a way of telling stories which is so effective and it surprises you in the most strange ways.”

“Everything has evolved so much we went from watching content or listening to content one certain way. So this is a very new step up, at least it was for me, when I heard it the first time. It’s such an immersive experience. It will blow your mind how effectively you can visualise everything and that’s quite a high,” she added.