Ronit Ashra recollects his mother telling him that, as a child, he would often mumble ‘I want to be an actor!’ in his sleep. Call it coincidence, but this is a dream that he is now living every day through his Instagram page. Ashra (18) often mimics Bollywood and TV celebrities through short and funny videos. From Alia Bhatt’s titular character in the 2022 film Gangubai Kathiawadi to Rajpal Yadav in the character of ‘Chote Pandit’ in the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise—the West Delhi resident has tried imitating a slew of actors. The result —he now has over 1.5 million followers on Instagram.
Living the dream
“You watch a song and you just see yourself in that song…,” says Ashra, giving us an idea about how he got the bug for acting quite early. He shares how enthusiastic he was about participating in events and competitions throughout his school years. Things changed when video sharing platforms such as Dubsmash and Musical.ly (now Tik Tok) emerged in India. “I was constant [with making videos] all this while. I knew at least something would click.”
If you take a look at Ashra’s content, you will notice that a single video is split into two segments—one with the original actor in a film scene or song, and the other showing Ashra imitating the actor. With more than lakhs of views on his videos on an average, his content has resonated with the audience.
E for effort
Taking us through the process of making these videos, Ashra mentions that a single video—a reel does not exceed a minute—takes him about a few days given the intricacies involved with make-up, costumes, and shots. “You can say it is a four-day process. It starts with a trial, arranging clothes and wigs, altering them as per the original, getting all the accessories, creating backdrops, figuring the lighting, and then, eventually shooting as per the script—the shoot, he says, can often take several hours.
It’s all about confidence
The notion that make-up, jewellery, or other such elements of adornment are not meant for men is still prevalent in society, so much so that a male using these is often deemed “not man enough”. While emulating characters, Ashra wears make-up and different wigs to achieve the right look. On being asked if he is trolled on social media, he admits that earlier, he was very conscious about uploading videos.
“I thought people would see me in a wig and laugh. Initially, I would also hide my face [in videos] so my friends would not recognise me.” This fear, eventually, scaled down. “You have to be so comfortable in your masculinity that it does not matter if you’re using make-up. Make-up makes you feel confident about yourself.” Ashra now plans to move to Mumbai in order to pursue his studies while building a career in acting.