17-year-old’s channel gets teens talking

She’s 17, but she’s got Ranveer Singh to talk about his first kiss, Sonam Kapoor about body shaming, Lauren Gottlieb about fitting in in a new place, Malaika Arora Khan about motherhood, and Karan Kundra and Anusha Dandekar about the influence of social media on teens’ lives — all this on her YouTube channel ‘Hanee Chavan’. It’s been only a month since Hanee Chavan, a class 12 student at Podar International School, launched her YouTube channel, but she’s already sharing the couch with famous celebrities, with her channel receiving more than 1 lakh views.

Chavan’s idea is to get celebrities to chat about issues — eating disorders, ragging, peer pressure, body shaming and more — that teens can relate to. “I wanted someone in India to talk about teenage issues, which are not as widely addressed. The reach celebrities have is far wider and when they talk about something they’ve gone through themselves as teenagers, there’s some respite for us teens. We know that we're not the only ones who have to go through these problems,” says the youngster, who believes that celebrities have their own journeys and experiences to share. It's important for her to speak to someone she relates to.  “When I think about an issue I’d like addressed, it has to be something that the celebrity personally feels for, like talking to Lauren about fitting in. She left her country and came to India, so who better to talk to about this?”

Chavan, who uploads her videos every Monday, says that being 17 is an advantage. “Comfort”, she shares, “is all about your mental state. At that moment, if I know what I want, I am comfortable,” says the Bandra resident, who has shot her videos in the offices and homes of the celebrities she's interviewed. The history and literature lover feels that if she manages to reach out to one person and make a difference to his/her life, it would be an achievement.

Keeping her task cut out

So how does a 17-year-old manage to share the couch with Ranveer Singh or Sonam Kapoor? She writes to their managers because she believes in doing things on her own merit. “I don’t want to cash in on anyone or anything. My parents are aware, but never involved,” claims the chatty youngster, who never follows a prepared questionnaire. “When I email them my concept, I always mention which ideas I'm looking to talk about. It's very casual,” she says. 

Her love for YouTube was what started off everything. She came up with these concepts and wrote her first email to Ranveer’s managers after discussing the idea with her 14-year-old brother Rehan. “He told me that I should go ahead as long as I believe in my content. A few weeks later, I got a response requesting for more details,” which eventually led to her first video with the Befikre star.

Chavan uses her Nikon D5300 to shoot, One Digital Entertainment — an organisation that helps young creators — provides her with equipment and helps during shooting. Editing is entirely Chavan’s responsibility and she uses Final Cut Pro to edit.

Balancing act

Shooting takes a few hours and editing about a day or two. “I have school from Monday to Friday, so I normally edit two videos on one weekend,” she says. Chavan shoots after school on weekdays and on weekends, but sometimes has to adjust her timings as per the celebrity's schedule and one day hopes to get Salman Khan on board. "I would love to do challenges with him and ask him about his teenage years,” says the teen who insists she wasn't the most social person till around Class 7. 

Her brother Rehan is one of her biggest critics. While her parents invariably tell her she’s done a good job, Rehan is the one who criticises her editing. “He's honest with me and I always seek his opinion when editing. He also ensures I do things on time.” Time management is key for Chavan, who has been organised since she was a child. She has always loved the stage and has participated in several school public-speaking and elocution competitions as well as debates. She is also a trained classical dancer and is now learning contemporary dance. She attributes her ability to juggle extracurriculars and her studies to her previous school Arya Vidya Mandir, where she was encouraged to multitask. “I won't say it's easy, it's quite hard to manage studies, the videos and my hobbies, but my parents maintain that when you’re passionate about your work, it doesn’t seem like work. I'm very excited about shooting or editing,” she shares. She plans on doing liberal arts and probably pursue an Arts degree from Mumbai, while continuing her YouTube channel.