Ahsaas Channa was initially sceptical as the only female in the cast of Clutch

Ahsaas Channa, who was recently seen in Netflix's Kota Factory (Season 2), will be playing a very different role in an upcoming web-series Clutch.

The actress, who has played a collegian in most of her web shows so far, will play an aspiring e-sport gamer this time.

"I remember I was in the office of Dice Media and Aditi Shrivastava [co-founder and CEO] told me they have this cool concept of a show on gaming and would I like to be a part of it? I immediately agreed because this kind of show on people who are into gaming has never been made in India," Channa said at a recent virtual press conference of the cast and crew of Clutch.

Channa plays Prachi, a gifted badminton player who is more interested in online gaming than playing the actual sport. "I have never played a sports player in my career, and that was also one of the main reasons for agreeing to do this show," she said.

Channa, who is the only female in the cast which includes Vishal Vashishtha, Saurabh Ghadge, Pratiek Pachori and child artiste Tirth Joisher, admitted she was a little sceptical early on. "Being the only female in the cast, I was a little worried that I might not get along with them, but to my surprise we all became good friends and had fun during the shoot. I can say I became the 'launda' of the group," she joked.

Although the actress is portraying a professional e-sports player in the show, Channa revealed that she is not into gaming a lot. "I can't say I'm a passionate gamer," she admitted. "I used to play PubG a lot when it was like a hot topic. I was obsessed with that game. Then it got banned and I started playing Battleground."

It's sometimes a little easier to make outdoor sports look more thrilling because they involve a lot of physical activity but showing two people sitting in chairs and playing video games and making it look thrilling and suspenseful can be really tough, and series director Ruchir Arun gave all credit for pulling this off to his artistes.

"When your actors put in so much effort, things become easier for a director," he said. "When we were shooting, the actors were obviously not playing a real game, but the way they captured the raw emotions, the way they showed the level of excitement on people's faces when they are fully immersed in the game, was outstanding.

"Every moment felt real. My cinematographer captured the kinetic energy of the gamers when they are completely immersed in the game. These people play from their chairs, but it's a sport and it can be as exciting as playing cricket or football. My cinematographer captured this energy and made every sequence come alive and I'm sure when people watch the show it will resonate with them, too."

Clutch is about five aspiring professional e-sports players who rise above the odds to win a mobile e-sports tournament. The show is being streamed on Dice Media's YouTube channel from today.