Though Ahsaas Channa has appeared in several web series and television shows over the past few years, earning admiration, she holds a special place in the hearts of Bollywood enthusiasts for her roles as a child artiste, particularly in Karan Johar’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’ (2006), ‘Vaastu Shastra’ (2004), ‘Aryan’ (2006), ‘My Friend Ganesha’ (2007), ‘Phoonk’ (2008) and others. While she turned heads with her debut film ‘Vaastu Shastra’ itself - convincingly portraying a boy, the son of characters played by Sushmita Sen and JD Chakravarthi - it came at a cost, as it led to her being typecast. Subsequent roles offered to her were predominantly boy characters, including her part in ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’. It was only later, in director Ram Gopal Varma’s supernatural thriller ‘Phoonk’, that she played her first character as a girl.
Ahsaas recently took a trip down memory lane, sharing how the industry insisted she maintain the appearance of a boy, even forbidding her from growing out her hair. She also explained that her decision to play a male character in ‘Vaastu Shastra’ wasn’t deliberate but circumstantial. Speaking to ‘Bollywood Bubble’, she recalled, “Since I was four years old, they convinced my mother to let me play a boy. My mom agreed, thinking, ‘She’s just four, what’s the harm?’ After ‘Vaastu Shastra’, the film became a hit and word spread in the industry about a new child actor who was good. With child actors, it’s tricky - the child also needs to have the right personality. After that, I did follow-ups, like ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’, which was such a big film. But the industry didn’t let my hair grow back, which could have affected me psychologically as a young child.”
Despite the challenges, Ahsaas emphasised that she never struggled with her identity.