Meet Ashish Chanchlani, an actor, writer and YouTuber with over 30 million subscribers who is known for his comedy sketches, spoofs and web shows on YouTube.
Chanchlani rose to great fame with his humourous take on ordinary topics. With highly relatable vines about the everyday lives of teenagers and young adults, everyone found a place to belong and relate.
He started out his YouTube journey by talking about common life experiences shared by your average Indian teenager such as relationship and family dynamics, school life, etc. and blended them with a pinch of salt and a little bit of flavour.
Recording with just his smartphone, his initial videos used little to no fancy equipment, which added to the relatability factor.
He is just as bubbly in real life as he presents himself in his videos, if not more and his ability to turn everyday life events into lightweight comedy that speaks to everyone is unmatched.
Feeling pretty overwhelmed and grateful for his life, he said in an interview, “I never expected that I would get this kind of response in my life, and the journey has been dreamy.”
The one who won our hearts a few years ago with his viral series— Science vs Commerce. The one who was there when we needed an escape from the realities of the world. And we still do. Some creators indeed have such a positive effect on us despite us not knowing them on a personal level. Ashish Chanchalani is one of those creators and this post is all about him.
Ashish Chanchalani YouTube Journey
Born on 8 December 1993 in Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra, Ashish always knew that acting was his thing. Although his parents were always unconditionally supportive of him, he did get into a civil engineering course just to have that safe backup plan ready. And we’re so glad that he didn’t have to bring that plan into action.
He dreaded the course and was ready to give up midway into it when his dad convinced him not to. “I almost gave up in my first year because it was all about assignments and internals,” he said.
So, along with pursuing his degree, he used to travel back and forth in order to go for multiple acting auditions but none of them ever led to anything worthwhile. “I’d always wanted to become an actor, it’s just that I had given up,” he said.
Then all of a sudden, YouTube became his calling and everything fell into place. He had found the perfect outlet to showcase his true potential. However, during the first 4 years of content creation, he was earning little to no money and things started to seem less hopeful.
It all eventually got better and today, he’s considered to be one of the biggest content creators in India. Speaking of creating content, Ashish has also directed a horror short film called ‘Aakhri Safar’ which has received much love.
We understood how passionate he really is about his acting career when his sister said in an interview, “Even when he’s in the bathroom, or he’s sleeping, I’ve heard him say his dialogues in his sleep. But again, even while walking and roaming, he keeps saying his dialogues; and we’ll keep calling him but he doesn’t listen.”
His unusual obsession and insane level of dedication have truly paid off today, as he’s been featured on Netflix multiple times, has had the opportunity to work and collaborate with great artists such as Akshay Kumar, Shahid Kapoor, Janhavi Kapoor, Kartik Aaryan, and so many more.
He was also invited to the Avenger’s Endgame premiere and has been awarded the ‘Best Comedy Influencer’ at the famous Cannes Film Festival 2019 held in France.
Ashish Chanchalani’s story goes to show how running after your dreams no matter how unlikely they might seem, always gets you one step closer to actually fulfilling them. No matter how hazy the future might look, all it takes is that one step forward to see the light again.
