Ahsaas Channa, a social media influencer and actor, claims that the industry forgot about her during her transition from a child actor to a working performer as an adult. Ahsaas is most known for her roles as children in films like Vaastu Shaastra and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, but she rose to prominence as a social media influencer and a member of the ensemble cast of Kota Factory.

She claimed in an interview that she opted to take a six-month hiatus from acting as a student, and that during that time, many of her peers in the business had passed her by.

Asked if she’d ever had moments of despair or been ‘out of work’, Ahsaas told RJ Siddharth Kannan, “Yes, definitely. During my 10th, my boards, I had completely taken a break from acting for about six months. And those six months… This industry is a race, and everyone is running. So if you stop for even a second, someone will overtake you. So that six-month break changed my life. People forgot me, casting directors forgot me, and other girls overtook me.”

Ahsaas said that it was then that she took the plunge into the digital space. “It’s been great since then. I’ve never been out of work, but there have been times when things weren’t working out.”

Ahsaas has over 2.7 million followers on Instagram and was recently seen in the second season of TVF’s Kota Factory, a series about IIT aspirants who flock to the town of Kota, Rajasthan, which was acquired by Netflix. Directed by Raghav Subbu, the show also stars Mayur More, Ranjan Raj and Alam Khan.