Too busy for love? Not Ahsaas

There people who romanticise a soft life. Ahsaas Channa isn’t one of them. In fact, she is currently romanticising the kind of busy where there’s barely time to breathe. The kind where 27-hour shoot days start to sound less like a labour violation and more like a brag. She knows it isn’t necessarily healthy. She’s also aware that the internet has spent the better part of the last few years teaching us to log off, rest, and protect our peace. But, ask her what she currently wants, and the answer comes easy: more work, please. “I’m genuinely enjoying it,” she says. It is an interesting answer but also an ironic one, because, over the course of our conversation, Channa keeps returning to the opposite idea. Slowing down. Being more patient. Not rushing things. Worrying less. Especially when it comes to love.

Professionally, though, she has every intention of speeding up. After spending years becoming one of the most recognisable faces of India’s youth-OTT wave—from Kota Factory (2019) and Hostel Daze (2019-2023) to Mismatched (2020-2026), and Half CA (2023-2025)—Channa, 27, is now looking towards films, and there are three in the pipeline. Starting from Baara Number, a found-footage horror film directed and produced by Vir Das; a Punjabi film, which marks her first project in her mother tongue; and another TVF film with Abhishek Banerjee and Gajraj Rao.

It is a decidedly different mix from the coming-of-age, campus and youth-centric shows that made her such a familiar face to a generation of viewers. But, if you’re looking for a carefully mapped-out career plan, Channa doesn’t really have one. She wants to do everything. Horror. Action. Musicals. Comedy. Drama. And then, perhaps, filmmaking. Having spent most of her life on sets, she has become increasingly interested in what happens behind the camera too—the way scenes are constructed, the decisions that shape a film, the person quietly pulling all the strings. “Eventually, I would want to start directing something,” she says. For now, though, she’s happy saying yes. More films, more genres, more things to try. Channa isn’t interested in pretending she has transcended the desire for more. She wants it. The question is whether she has any time left for anything else.

Love actually

She’s single at the time of our conversation. Not mysteriously single. Not “I’m just focusing on myself right now” single. She describes herself as “very sadly, very lonely single”—before clarifying that she would, in fact, like a boyfriend. The problem, it seems, is modern dating. “It’s disgustingly irritating and complicated,” she says. Her theory is fairly straightforward: everyone is busy building something. And when you want to date someone ambitious (someone with their own life, career, and things to do) you eventually encounter a scheduling problem. Nobody has any time. Channa has briefly tried the apps, though not with much conviction. Her stint on Raya lasted all of three days, largely because she was curious to see the cohort.

She came away unconvinced. Dating apps, she says, feel “very transactional somehow”. But beneath the complaints about logistics is a surprisingly old-school romantic. Ask Channa what she misses about the way people used to date, and it isn’t the grand gestures or the aesthetics of a romcom relationship. It is the slowness of it. “The first look you shared with the person, that would be an event,” she says. “The first time you talk to the person, that used to be an event.” Now, she thinks, everything happens too quickly.

Behind the performance

Of course, there is another kind of relationship Channa has had to learn to navigate: the one with everyone watching. She is remarkably uncomplicated about fame. Being recognised is not something she finds intrusive by default. Social media works for Channa. “I like it because I have control over what I want to share and what I don’t want to share,” she says. She can post her outfits, new house, the exciting and mundane details of her day. But, the things she wants to keep to herself stay that way. This is particularly relevant when it comes to love. A future relationship is unlikely to make a dramatic appearance on her feed anytime soon. Channa is happy for people to know her; she just doesn’t believe they need to know everything.

The person Channa is trying to become, she says, is calmer. More patient. Less likely to rush into panic mode. It sounds simple enough. But perhaps patience is harder when everything around you is moving quickly—when there is another project, another possibility, another thing you want to do. For now, though, she seems comfortable in the middle of it all. When asked to describe her current era in one word, she lands on something that feels entirely right. “Entertaining.” 

Editor: Snigdha Ahuja (@snigdha.ahuja)
Interview: Bani Sachar (@banisachar)
Photographer: Manasi Sawant (@manasisawant)
Stylist: Nishtha Parwani (@nishthaparwani)
Cover Design: Mandeep Singh Khokhar (@mandy_khokhar19)
Makeup and Hair Artist: Itika Chugh (@fashionmakeupbyitikachugh)
Editorial Coordinator: Shalini Kanojia (@shalinikanojia)
Assistant Stylists: Michelle Lobo (@michellemlobo__) and Jolevine Guite (@jolevine.guite)
Location: Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj (@ambiencemalls)

On Ahsaas Channa: Top, Diesel (@diesel); skirt, Self Portrait (The Collective) (@mrselfportrait) (@collectiveindia); earrings, Swarovski (@swarovski); rings, Jewelbox (@jewelbox.co.in)