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When Netflix’s Kartavya landed on May 15, most people tuned in for Saif Ali Khan. What they didn’t expect was to spend the next few days trying to find out who played Harpal, the 6-year-old Haryanvi boy at the centre of the film whose abuse and manipulation drives the entire story.<\/p>\n
The searches for Yudhvir Ahlawat surged so sharply after Kartavya’s release<\/a> that he climbed to the top of IMDb India’s popularity rankings, overtaking major stars including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Thalapathy Vijay<\/a> and Shah Rukh Khan<\/a>. Jr NTR<\/a> and Mohanlal<\/a> also found themselves displaced on the list by a man, yes not a child but a man, most people had never heard of a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n The reason so many people were searching for him in the first place is telling. Audiences watching Kartavya broadly assumed Yudhvir was a child actor, his youthful appearance and portrayal of an abused boy led viewers to believe he was much younger than he actually is. He is, in fact, 33 years old. And he has been working in theatre and films for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n Yudhvir Ahlawat in a still from Kartavya.\n<\/p>\n Yudhvir Ahlawat comes from Sheriya, a village in Jhajjar, Haryana. His father, Gyan Singh Ahlawat, served in the Border Security Force (BSF). Unlike the rest of his family, Yudhvir chose acting as a career. He is shorter than his brothers and has a youthful face, which often makes people think he is much younger than his actual age.<\/p>\n For nearly eight years, he has been associated with director Feroz Abbas Khan’s stage production Mughal-E-Azam: The Musical, performing across India and on international stages.<\/p>\n Alongside his stage work, he began his screen journey with the 2019 biographical drama Saand Ki Aankh, the Taapsee Pannu<\/a> and Bhumi Pednekar<\/a> film, in which he played Chandro Tomar’s son. He followed that with Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera and then earned wider recognition for his role as Rakesh Dilawar in the crime thriller Love Hostel alongside Bobby Deol and Vikrant Massey, a performance noted for its intensity and realism.<\/p>\n In 2025, he appeared in the youth comedy series Co-Ed on Amazon MX Player. None of these, though, prepared anyone for what Kartavya would do to his profile.<\/p>\n Take a look at Kartavya’s trailer:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\nFrom a BSF household in Haryana<\/a> to the Mughal-e-Azam stage<\/h3>\n