Aftab Shivdasani, Sana Saeed, Ahsaas Chaana: Do child actors have it easy when they get relaunched in films? – bollywood

Kunal Kemmu, Sana Saeed, Urmila Matondkar, Hansika Motwani, Shweta Basu Prasad — all these names have been successful child artistes before becoming full-fledged film actors. But does a past repertoire of work give them an easy access in Bollywood when they are relaunched as an adult?

Saeed, who at the age of eight, played Shah Rukh Khan’s onscreen daughter in Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), restarted her career as an adult with the same director’s 2012 film, Student of the Year (SOTY). 

She tells us, “I had to do the runs and I had to go to the auditions. I worked many years back when people had landlines. This was all new. I didn’t have anybody’s contact. I went through the regular rounds of auditions. It’s not that I called up Karan and said, ‘Hey, I want to work again and I’m the same chick’. I sent my pictures to a lot of casting directors.”

Even for SOTY, Saed reveals she auditioned for three rounds, “and it was only later when they saw my resume, hey realised who I was.”

Just because you’ve done projects as a child actor, doesn’t guarantee you an open gate when you decide to transition as an adult, feels Aftab Shivdasani, who starred in films such as Mr. India (1987), Shahenshah (1988) and, ChaalBaaz (1989). 

“Working as a kid doesn’t matter because being a child actor and a film actor later, is very different. I think unless you’re from a film family, you’ll not get that opportunity. When you’re part of a film family and you decide to be an actor, you get all the help you need. People from non-film background don’t have the facility to being launched by their family,” says the actor, whose lead debut was Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast in 1999.

Another child artiste, who starred in films such as Vaastu Shastra (2004), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2007) and My Friend Ganesha (2007), Ahsaas Channa says it wasn’t easy at all when she decided to get into films. In fact, she had to opt for TV and web series because big screen projects weren’t easy to get into.

“The struggle is the same for everyone. Getting work at any age isn’t easy. It may seem that since I did big films I know a lot of people and will have contacts, that’s not the case. Ultimately, getting a project is totally based on how good you are as an actor, and not the fact that you’ve done films as a child. It makes no difference in terms of getting projects,” she explains. 

Does that mean child actors don’t get any advantage despite being the ‘insiders’ in the film industry? Saeed says there are some plus points indeed according to her experience so far.

“Since I was part of a big film, I felt a lot of respect was there, and I was accepted. No one said that ‘Let me she what she’s all about’. It was more like ‘She must be good’. That gave me a lot of confidence. It’s a privilege to be recognised for what you did. I was not a nobody for sure, at least that was empowering for me,” she says.

Channa also adds that growing up on set with people who’re a part of the industry means that “I got to learn a lot of things and gain more experience.”

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