Actor Ahsaas Channa’s been in the social media game for long enough to know how important it is to play it well. Murmurs are abound that actors are now being cast on the basis of their social media following.

Channa, who used to be a child artiste and went on to play grown-up characters in Kota Factory, Mismatched 2 and Girls Hostel, says, “The fact that people are getting cast on the basis of social media following is true, to some extent. It depends from project to project.”

The 24-year-old adds that not every project does casting on these lines. She is also not happy with demarcations being made for people hailing from different backgrounds: “There are so many projects where directors and producers look purely at auditions. Some do require number of followers as a criteria. If an influencer or content creator is a good actor and is willing to work on their craft, why are we restricting them then?“

Channa, making a case for herself, asserts that she has had to prove herself. “I have a big following on Instagram (three million). If someone approaches me for something, I still have to audition. Even if someone has humongous following, but sucks at auditions, at the end of the day it (whether you get a role or not) will be on merit. How good you are on camera, how much hard work you put in for your character is what matters,” she says.