Ehsaas finds a new friend

Courtesy: IndiaFM
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
She plays a boy in all her advertisements and films. She is made to look like a boy. Not even in your wildest dreams can you guess that the angelic 8-year old boy you see is a girl in reality. Well, that is Ehsaas Channa for you. The cute kid has been projected by her mother Kuldip Kaur as a boy since the past few years since her entry in the entertainment industry. But there is more to Ehsaas then just her hidden identity which is now opening up to the world. After films like Vaastu Shastra, KANK, Aryan, etc. the talented toddler is all set with her next film My Friend Ganesha.

Ask her about My Friend Ganesha and her voice rises with excitement, "My Friend Ganesha is a story about an eight year old kid Ashu, played by me. Ashu is a very lonely child since his parents don't have time for him. He also has no friends. Ashu gets sad and shares with his maid, Gangubai about his loneliness and need of a friend. So after much persistence when the Ganesha is brought home during the Ganesha Festival, Ashu finds a friend in him and they have lots of fun together." The little star seems to have learnt quite a many tricks of the trade when she says she didn't have difficulty shooting for My Friend Ganesha as she had to act and talk with somebody who was actually not there. She says, "It was not very difficult. The assistant showed me to look at a particular place (where Ganesha would be put later) and act naturally as if somebody is actually there. So it was not at all troublesome."

Ehsaas doesn't forget to give even the slightest credit to her mother. Right from helping her memorizing her dialogues to helping her act, she proudly says for her mother, "My Mom has taught me everything. Whatever acting I know is all taught to me by my mother. She also helps me memorize my dialogues." There are no surprises as to who is behind Ehsaas to help her with the tedious task of balancing school and work. "My Mom helps me a lot. Whenever I get free time on the sets, my Mom helps me with my homework. My Mom helps me at every step. She is with me always. I love her very much."

This young prodigy who has already worked with the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Sushmita Sen cherishes the experience of sharing the screen with such stars at such a tender age. "It has been a very good experience. They call me names like 'Baby', 'Ehsu', etc. They treat me very sweetly and play with me whenever possible. They are extremely nice-natured and caring. Shahrukh loves children very much. So it is fun with all of them."

But at the end of the day, Ehsaas is a girl and one is so used to see her as a boy that it comes as an involuntary action at times to address her as "him". She looks unperturbed about the recognition she gets as a boy. On the contrary, she seems to be enjoying it! "I like to act like a boy wearing boy's clothes. I rehearse my dialogues and act them out. So it is not difficult to act like a boy being a girl."

Probably the youngest star around, Ehsaas wants to be an actress in the future. She reveals, "I want to become a good actress like Preity Zinta. She is a very good natured person. She is also very good-mannered and a great actress. She is great fun to be with. I want to be like her."

But won't it be difficult for the girl who was a 'boy' to make her mark as an actress? Well, Ehsaas is already on her way to change her image. From now on she is going to feature as a girl in many of her projects. "I have three ad films coming up in which I play a girl. I have Kunal Kohli's film in which also I am playing a girl named Priya. There is also an English film which I am thinking of doing."

The ugly demons of controversies have not even spared this little artist. Her mother was in the news when news of Ehsaas being a girl started coming to light. Now, rumours are making rounds that Kuldip Kaur has sued Sanjay Gupta as he is planning to make a film based on Ehsaas's life. But Kuldip refused to comment. She said, "I don't want to talk anything about this."

Well, this tiny tot is more than the controversies surrounding her. Her platter already seems to be full when normally kids of her age take their first step towards acting or dancing. She juggles school and acting with Élan when many actors struggle to go beyond a film or two. The journey has just begun for this small wonder!