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Yash’s journey of fighting stereotypes to becoming successful in the industry
Meet Yash Ajmera, a fashion model and actor. Coming from the small town of Jetpur, Gujarat. He started his career as a fashion model and was strongly backed by his friends. It was his friends who persuaded him to participate in the fashion show Royal Khathiyawadi 2019 and helped him financially. Yash won the title and was noticed by one of the judges. He asked him to participate in the pageant. Talking more on this, Yash said,
“In the show, I was noticed by one of the judges. He asked me to participate in the pageant show in Mumbai. I requested him to organise the grand finale in Gujarat. He accepted my request and my journey started from there. I went to Ahemadabad for the show and organised the show. The show was Mr and Miss India Iconic Personality 2019. At the age of 19, I became the first entrepreneur to organise a beauty pageant in Gujarat”.
Yash also won the title of Mr. Gujarat 2019. However, he was not supported by his family. His parents strongly opposed his decision to take modeling professionally. His family was doubtful about the industry and was concerned for his safety. As a result, Yash left his home to pursue his dream to become a fashion model.
“My father told me that if I want to work in this industry, I cannot live with them anymore. So when I started working, my father kicked me out of the house. I spent three days at a railway station. I have really struggled in my initial years. It took a lot of hard work to come to the position where I am right now”.
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Later, Yash realized that he cannot be in modeling for his entire life. He decided to change his field and directed towards acting. He started making contacts in the Gujarati film industry. Yash made his first album song the royal-themed Humnava, which led him to many acting projects.
“After my first album Humnava, I got a role in a gujrati web series Yaariyan. Then, I got a side role in Bin Sharti, also a gujrati web series. Recently, I shot for a web series Yes Ma’am in which I played the lead role and producer as well”.
In his acting journey, Yash was lucky enough to get the support of his web series director, Hiren Doshi. After watching the first Gujrati web series, Yash was impressed by the industry. As a result, he contacted the director, Hiren Doshi, and asked for a role. Yash remained in contact with him and got a role in Yaariyan. Discussing the Pandemic, Yash revealed that it affected his career a lot. He did not have any work and went into depression. When one of the directors in the industry came to know about his state, he called him to Ahemdabad.
“When sir came to know that I was in this condition, he called me to Ahemdabad for the further grooming of myself. I told him that I cannot afford it anymore, he helped me financially and looked after all my expenses. Then I worked in a production house and got a role in Bin Sharti during the pandemic. Sir has guided me in every aspect of acting field”.
After winning the fashion show, Yash did not have any work. He contacted the local brands for print shoots. He did a free collaboration with a brand, Body Line. His favorite and biggest achievement was when he did a shoot for Jiviva. He did both a royal shoot and an album song in the lead role with Aarti Rajput for Jiviva. In the future, Yash hopes to work with Manish Malhotra and with Sanjay Leela Bhansali as an actor.
Presently, Yash is in the last year of his graduation from Shri Vivek Bharti trust B.ED college. He is pursuing a B.ED(Bachelors of Education). He wanted to become a professor since he loves to be around children. Therefore, in his initial years, Yash started teaching in school and gave tuition to generate income for grooming. Moreover, Yash loves to do painting, especially when feeling low. He is a strong-minded individual. No matter how much one demotivates him, Yash has a strong belief in himself which he considers a unique quality and makes him different from others.
Talking about discrimination, Yash said that there are many times when the person who was not deserving gets the role because of connections one had in the industry. For this reason, he considers nepotism as the biggest disadvantage for outsiders. He said that there are still a lot of stereotypes in the industry. Yash revealed that he was discouraged as a model because of his height. He even said there are many criteria that demotivate many of us to join the industry.
“My height is 5’6. It was my dream to participate in Mr.India but it will remain my dream. Because of the criteria of the minimum height of 5’9. I can never participate in the show though I have the talent and I personally feel very wrong. I definitely want to change these kind of stereotypes in the industry”.
Also Read: “I am a man who is always on a mission”, Fashion Model, Sajid Shaikh
