EXCLUSIVE! Class Fame Ayesha Kanga Opens Up About Portraying Yashika; Actress Says, ‘Stalked South Delhi Influencers, Observed Them’
Ayesha Kanga has opened up about essaying the role of Yashika in Netflix’s famous web series Class and shared the challenges she faced during the shooting process
Actress Ayesha Kanga impressed the audience with her performance in Netflix’s web series Class. Based on the show Elite, she essayed the role of Yashika, a self-centered and attention-seeking teenager from South Delhi. As the show is set to be renewed for a new season, she opened up about the challenges she faced while shooting the first season and how she prepared herself for the role.
1. A topper from the National Institute of Design, how was your journey of becoming one of the most talked about actors from Class?
There are only a few kids from NID that end up becoming actors. They either become animators, production designers, or even textile designers, but they do not become actors. It’s definitely something that I did not see coming. However, since I used to work as a creative director and a graphic designer there are a lot of parallels that I can draw in the acting sphere. It’s interesting how the design process helps you arrive at a character. I feel like this is the cool thing about interdisciplinary creative fields. It feels awesome. I feel like if I didn’t have my education back-up at NID, the Class thing wouldn’t have worked out as I needed that to become Yashika.
2. How did you prepare for your character Yashika?
Yashika is absolutely nothing like me. It was really difficult to essay her, but we had to be workshopped until we got the essence of our characters. Since Yashika spent all her life on the internet, a rich South Delhi kid, the first thing that I did was go on Instagram and stalk a few South Delhi influencers. I observed the way they spoke, how they commented on each other’s pictures, what kinds of emojis they used, and how they presented themselves on social media as well as in real life. The director, Ashim Ahluwalia, sent me the material and profiles of a lot of influencers, to help me understand Yashika.
Yashika being much younger than me, has a lot of energy. She is also an attention-seeker, even though she has a redemption arch. So the way she spoke, had to attract everybody’s attention and make them believe that everything was about her. The makers wanted her to have loud facial expressions, and be a caricature that people wouldn’t like. To prepare for the role I had my own exercises like making a list of 10 of her favourite shows, thinking that she must have watched all the episodes of Koffee With Karan thrice, that Poo would be her icon and she would be Black Pink stan and Jenny would be her favourite singer. This helped me become Yashika. Even though she was so different from me, I enjoyed playing the character and I can’t wait to start again.
3. How did the team and your co-stars help you during the shooting journey of Class season 1?
Class was either the cast members’ first or second project so we were completely fresh and completely new. We were 11 newcomers who came from different walks of life. Since we had all lived different lives, we were confused and had no idea what the future held. We had no idea what to do. However, we communicated with each other constantly, we told each other how we felt. If we had a bad day we spoke about it. There was a clear slate and we were able to communicate. This was indeed a crazy journey and we took forever to film it as there was a lot on the line. But a lot of us just wanted this to be the best show and that’s all we cared about. Making sure that the show was the best show on the planet became our entire life. It was awesome to have everyone’s unwavering support, we really needed it as a nobody coming together for something we never dipped our feet into.
4. Being recognised as the Most Disruptive Force of Fashion by Vogue, how did you find your passion for fashion?
Creativity has always come naturally to me. It’s something that I have studied, something that I love the most. I got into fashion when I started enjoying fashion imagery and I wanted to give it a try by becoming a model. I loved the images so much that wanted to just exist in them and learn to do it myself, which I eventually did. That is when my love for fashion really ignited. The process of becoming a fashion person for me stems heavily with being a graphic designer as I look at fashion as space form structure, colour, and tie it together on the body. It is one of those creative fields that have boomed out of proportion and people are doing amazing, creative, and crazy things with thread and fabric. The world has become their oyster. I’m in love with it and I want to do it for as long as I can.
5. Since many say fashion comes with comfort, please share a few fashion tips for your fans
People might say that fashion comes with comfort, but according to me, it doesn’t. The first tip would be that it will not always be comfortable. I have never worn anything that was comfortable, I have been cut and bruised, hurting the next day when I have an outfit situation. One of the other tips would be to use numbing gel, take a painkiller, and then get into that good outfit.
6. Any filmmaker you would like to work with in the future?
I would really like to work with Anurag Kashyap, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and Zoya Akhtar. I would also like to do a Chris Nolan film. I absolutely love Quentin Tarantino, the list is endless.
7. A role that you would love to portray on screen?
For my next project, I want to be a completely different person from what people have seen already. I would like to completely remove myself from Yashika and play someone, who is poles apart. I would really like to be seen differently every single time. Portray as many different characters as possible as it interests me and I think it would be a challenge to arrive as a complete person. It is all about the art of performance and I would like to see how far I can take it.
8. A message for your fans?
I have been watching all their videos, I’m enjoying all of the memes, and the tweets. I’m also on all the Reddit, Threads. I would like to thank them for all their wonderful and chaotic words about me constantly. I see you, hear you. Thank you for being as crazy as me and being interested in what I do. I hope I can keep doing things that can make you proud. I love my fans and would love to meet them someday.
9. Any update on your future projects?
Even though I’m not allowed to talk about it, there are lots of projects in the pipeline. The future is definitely exciting, with lots of talks with filmmakers.
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