From playing little boy in 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' to 'Kota Factory 3', Ahsaas Channa looks back

NEW DELHI: Actress Ahsaas Channa, who is most loved for her portrayal of a young boy 'Arjun' in the 2006 romantic drama 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' has reflected upon her 20 years of journey in the industry, saying that she has grown up on set, spent time with amazing and experienced people and learnt so much along the way.

Ahsaas, who started her career at a very young age, played the role of Shahrukh Khan, and Preity Zinta's son in Karan Johar's directorial 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna'. She also essayed the character of Ashu in 'My Friend Ganesha'.

In a conversation with IANS, Ahsaas talked about her journey, the evolution of women characters, and more.

On how she sees her growth as an artist over the 20 years of her acting journey, Ahsaas feels grateful for the opportunities she has gotten all these years.

"I’ve always been passionate about my work and it’s become a part of my personality. I’ve grown up on set and got the chance to spend time with amazing and experienced people and learnt so much along the way which I’m really grateful for. I have dreams about doing more challenging roles, working on stronger scripts and playing different characters and the goal is to make those dreams come true," Ahsaas told IANS.

Ahsaas further shared: "I never went to an acting school. My mom groomed me and I’ve worked on my craft by being on set, working with great actors. It has been a wonderful experience but I’ve barely scratched the surface. I have so many plans and goals and I will continue to work hard towards it."

The 24-year-old diva, who has been a part of shows like 'Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev', 'Code Red - Talaash', among others opened up on the evolution of writing of women characters.

She said: "Absolutely, there are many strong female characters being written today, than they were in the past. And I’m glad for this evolution. But are we completely there? No, we have a long journey to go, but there are many steps that we have taken in the right direction as an industry."

"I strongly feel that having more women be a part of the workforce in the Hindi film industry has led to a substantial change in the mindset with regards to the way female characters are written. I have made this observation, the more women you have working on a set the more you evolve with regards to your understanding of gender roles representation on the screen," said Ahsaas.

As a young budding actor in this industry, Ahsaas is grateful to her predecessor who set the foundation for women having such strong voices in cinema.

"I guess I’m privileged enough to now reap the benefits of their struggles," she said.

'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' will soon mark 18 years of its release.

Sharing nostalgic memories from the shoot of the movie, Ahsaas said: "That film and shooting for it has been one of the highlights of my life and being able to share screen space and work with such legendary actors at the age of six is something really special."

"I remember being pampered by SRK and Abhishek Bachchan. I remember getting applause which SRK started and everyone followed for a shot I gave. There were times I used to write letters and drawings for SRK, Rani Mukherjee and Preity. I spent lots of time in New York so that was pretty amazing too," she added.

Meanwhile, Ahsaas will be next seen in Jitendra Kumar-starrer 'Kota Factory' season 3. The black-and-white series is directed by Pratish Mehta, produced by TVF Productions, and helmed by Raghav Subbu.

The show will stream from June 20 on Netflix.