Actor, Content Creator, and Extremely Funny. The list goes long for this extremely talented actor Kashish Anand. The actor can entertain people and make them cheerful in no time. Kashish Anand’s passion and skills for acting are commendable and prove to be a source of inspiration for many willing to make a name in this field.
Since childhood, Kashish Anand has particularly liked the stage, the audience, and expressing himself. And as years went by, he evolved into an impeccable actor, also making a mark in the field of short-format videos.
Here’s Kashish Anand, sharing his life experiences in an exclusive interview with Icy Tales.
Enjoy Yourselves!
Q) What was your childhood like? Were you funny as a child too?
Kashish Anand – I was (laughs). Maybe I was. I’ve always been like this. Since childhood, I’ve been like this. I haven’t changed drastically to date.
Right from childhood, I was very fond of singing, so stage performances have been a constant for a long time. I was a very naughty kid (laughs), to be very honest. When I was in 4th standard, at that time, I started my theatre journey. That was the first time I did a play; to date; theatre is a part of my life.
Q)What does your journey of acting look like?
Kashish Anand – I have liked movies since I was a child. My father, too, is very fond of movies. So I didn’t ever miss a movie. Every Friday, or every weekend, we used to go to a movie. So that itself developed an interest. And when I first did theatre, somewhere, I liked doing it because I’ve always been a backbencher, a student who’s bad at studies and even worse at sports (laughs).
And amidst this, the theatre was something that gave me recognition and appreciation. People liked what I was doing. Plus, I was also enjoying it because the process of doing theatre is super fun. You enjoy it a lot. They make you play a lot of things, and it’s a lot of fun. And when that fun gave me recognition, I felt it was the best!
Since then, the theatre has been a part of my life throughout, till my class 12th. Although I wouldn’t say, it was a lot. Yes, it was there, but we used to do around 2-3 plays a year on average.
After 12th, I joined Amity University for my graduation in Mass Communication, as I always wanted to become an actor. However, my father wanted me to be an architect, but that didn’t happen (laughs).
In college, too, I did a bit of theatre, but somewhere in 2015, content creation happened. It didn’t happen intentionally, but it sparked in 2015.
Q) How did content creation start?
Kashish Anand – I posted a video in 2015 with my school friend Ranvir Narula (also a content creator). Completely random, casual video about DU vs Amity. We uploaded it on FaceBook. In 2015, on that video, we got 250,000 views. 250k back then felt like around 10 million today. Back then, Facebook was THE THING. We were overwhelmed.
People started recognising us. Post that, we started making videos for Facebook and YouTube. But we couldn’t do it much because Ranvir was in another course, and I was in another so we couldn’t meet much. Moreover, we were doing it for fun. We had never thought that this could become our profession eventually.
College ended, and I went to Mumbai. But I returned in around two months because I realised it wasn’t my way. I wouldn’t say I liked the process of it. Every day you’re just auditioning and still not earning, living off your parents’ money. I wouldn’t say I liked it.
I did my diploma in acting from Barry John Acting School. Around four months into school, a director from another batch came to me and said that he was starting a new theatre group, and he’d seen some of my work, so he wanted me to be a member. I pounced on the opportunity.
We started that theatre group. Till then, yes, I had done a lot of theatres, but I had never done a lead role. This was the first time I was doing a lead role. The show was “Bali Aur Shambhu”. And I played Bali, a 55-year-old guy. This is the same as my “Decent Uncle” character on Instagram. Bali Aur Shambhu” got selected for IIT Delhi also. We did around 2-3 plays a month. So 2019 went extremely well in terms of theatre.
2020 arrived, COVID hit all of us, and that’s when theatre took a backseat. But an actor is always thirsty for the audience’s claps, thirsty for appreciation and for entertaining people.
So even if the theatre had stopped, I still had to do something. That’s when I started making IGTVs for Instagram. Till then, “Reels” wasn’t introduced. TikTok was there, but I was super against it.
I felt IGTV was the new cool, and it was the future. So instead of focusing on YouTube, I felt I should focus on IGTVs more. I started my series – “Kaafi With Kashish”, wherein I interviewed a character and played that character. It was a fun IGTV series. That went average. I started it when I had around 500-600 followers. Soon, Reels were introduced. But I was still against short-format videos.
Around March-April of 2021, I realised that a major chunk of the audience was on reels, and I had to enter the field. I started reels around July 2021, but I wasn’t still very sure about it.
Ranvir once told me to take a “One Month Challenge” and be consistent. Amidst that, one of my videos crossed 100k, and another crossed 600k. I hit my first million on a video I made at my friend’s wedding, named “Decent Friends. Within 4-5 days of posting it, the video crossed 1.5M. That was one good boom. And that’s how it all started.
Q)Who’s your inspiration in the field of acting?
Kashish Anand – Shah Rukh Khan, obviously Shah Rukh Khan.
Being a 90s kid, I don’t think there’s a person who wants to be an actor and isn’t a fan of Shah Rukh Khan. I don’t think that is possible. He may not be their super favourite, but he would somewhere be their inspiration.
Why him? Because he chose the path of love. What’s better than that? Some do action movies, some do comedy, but he chose the path of love. I don’t think there’s a better path than that.
Q) What is your message for anyone starting in content creation?
Kashish Anand – Many people have asked me, “Even I want to start. Should I do it or not?”.
The first thing I see is that people are too conscious of how they look in front of the camera. It would be best if you broke that barrier first. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all. You’ve entertained the viewer; that’s all that matters.
You can’t be a gentleman and an actor together. You’ll have to have that expressiveness in you.
So don’t pay too much attention to how you look in front of the camera, the camera angle, and all those things. If you think about all this, you won’t be able to start. These things might be important, but that’d only be in the later stages. The first thing is to open your camera and start shooting.
Second, be consistent. Start uploading and be consistent with it. Be regular for at least the first 20-30 days. You’ll get to know what works for you.
Q) What are your plans for content creation in future?
Kashish Anand – YouTube has been on the cards for some time now. There are a few projects and things that are underway. A lot is in process. Honestly, I’d like to keep it a secret for now. But definitely, things are planned, and I’m always trying to evolve. I’m eager to do YouTube.
Kashish Anand is an extremely devoted actor who’s always striving for something better. This same hunger drives him to keep working on himself constantly.
Watch the whole and hearty conversation with Kashish Anand on our YouTube Channel.
