PeepingMoon Exclusive: ‘Whenever we say IIT, we think only of boys & forget about girls, big shoutout to creators who acknowledged that there are female engineers,’ say Ahsaas Channa and the cast of 'Kota Factory 2'

By Vandana Srivastawa

on September 23, 2021 03:58:05 PM

TVF’s Kota Factory is one of the most iconic and popular shows of recent times. Now, the creators have come up with the second season of the series that will premiere on Netflix on September 24 and we get to meet the familiar cast of Mayur More, Ahsaas Channa, Alam Khan, Ranjan Raj and others as they tackle the grueling coaching for IIT and Medical.

PeepingMoon.com got an exclusive opportunity to catch up with the lead cast along with director Raghav Subbu for a fun tete-a-tete before the series Kota Factoru Season 2 takes the OTT by storm. The cast and the director spoke about what new to expect from the season, pressures of living up to the expectations of the people, returning back to sets during Covid times and sharing screen space once again with Jitendra Kumar and each other.

Excerpts from the interview:

The first season has become truly iconic and blew everyone’s mind so how does it feel to come back for the second season? Any pressure of audience anticipation?

Ranjan: It feels amazing to come back two years later that too on Netflix with a much bigger audience. It feels blessed and we are thankful to our directors, writers and producers. I can’t wait for the show to stream.

Raghav: As a director when your first season does such crazy numbers, it does feel a bit scary to jump into season two and meeting that expectation that people suddenly have of a brand new show as they want everything that they loved in season one, so in this country we are still trying to figure out the art for the perfect season 2 and I think we as a country we still need to learn things as we go and its completely fine; it could be a bump, a hit or a miss and we learn along the way. So with so many people working on the project with actors, writers, producers and so many behind the camera its heartwarming and endearing to see so many people come together to make something that they truly believe in and that’s beautiful, I feel extremely grateful.

What new can we expect from the second season of Kota Factory?

Raghav: You can expect a lot of themes in season two about growing up, about coming-of-age. These are 16-17 year olds who have been plucked from their homes and live alone in a world where they are pursuing their dreams of IIT and Medical, so you can explore a lot of baggage of growing up, what is it to be a young adult, establishing your own identity, trying to get a firm ground and building your belief system, growing up and maturing about your yourselves and your friends which have never been dealt before with subtlety and that is what you’ll get to see in Kota Factory Season 2.

You're coming fresh from the success of Hostel Daze so how was it reprising your role in Kota Factory 2 and going back to campus?

Ahsaas: Well, I think playing a medical student is so far away from what I am doing in real life and also that Shivangi is so different from me in my real life, she is so cool and it is a lot of fun playing her, I just get to be somebody who is this cool sorted person that I am not, so I have a lot of fun playing her and its always great to get back to sets and that too when it’s a TVF show and with such cool co-stars who are friends so it’s a party every day. You are working and also having fun and that too with friends and doing what you love to do was great. Also being directed by Raghav is always a delight as he is my favourite director. I just missed being on Kota Factory so it was a blast getting back and I loved it.

Your dialogue about female students undergoing preparation of exams and giving them while having their periods is probably the first time the biological phenomenon has been addressed from a student’s perspective in a show. Your take?

Ahsaas: So I personally love this season because we are talking about something that we forget to talk about; whenever we say IIT, we think only of boys and forget that even girls give these exams and the challenges that they face and it’s not only about period but so many other things as well. So this time it’s a representation of the things that we forget to talk about and it is not about female empowerment or portrays a feminist situation but we are portraying the things that are very matter-of-fact and we just forget to talk about. I am extremely lucky that I get to say this through my character in a show that everyone watches, a big shout out to the writers and the creators of the show who have plugged this in which is so important for people to know that there are female engineers as well and there are girls preparing for IIT and yeah, I am really looking forward to this second season.

You've become a veteran of sorts with regards to campus stories with Chhichore, Kota Factory and Hostel Daze. Are you owning the genre? What next can we expect next from you?

Ranjan: Main hi hoon abhi ka student of the year (laughs). I have been extremely lucky to be a part of these projects. However, all of them have different stories, Kota Factory has a lot of depth in characters and hence it was more fruitful for me as I get to play the character for a longer duration.

Coming from a non-engineering background you must have prepared extensively to portray a science student in season 1. What new inputs did you inculcate for the second season?

Mayur: The first season already had an exhaustive script so most of the work was already done for me, I did not have to source out any material. We had gone to Kota 10 days before the start of the shoot and we get to see how students live, their time table and all that went into preparation. In the second season, we also did the same thing and did a lot of reading session, we went to Kota and stayed there and our director was extremely forthcoming with guidance. Coming after the massive hit of season one we did not take a lot of tension but did what was expected and how the story could go forward in a natural progression. Jeetu Bhaiya and Ranjan were always there to help with the look and feel of being an IIT student.