Roller skating keeps spreading at an amazing pace and watching talented people sharing their culture through skates is so inspiring to witness! Seeing more content from countries in South Asia has been such a positive thing for the roller skating community. Roller skating gives us so many gifts but getting to learn about new cultures, languages and how skaters live in so many different and diverse ways is one of the most rewarding parts of this community.

Eshna is a pure manifestation of this diversity of culture in roller skating and her style, dedication and talent has afforded her opportunities to be involved in local projects in India as well as internationally with roller skate brands like Chuffed, Lazo and S1 Helmets.

We recently had a chance to chat with Eshna about skating, being part of a Netflix show as a choreographer and double and what its like roller skating in India!

Q: Can you tell us how and when you started roller skating?

A: I started skating when I was 4 years old. My mum bought me really good skates from Dubai. India didn't have good options for quads at that time. I Fell in love with it! My sister and I skated so much as kids. We were both skate captains in our school. Even through my work days as I grew older I kept skating no matter what people thought of me. A lot of people thought at that time skating was just for kids. Now when they see all the possibilities they have more respect for it.

Q: What's your favorite part of roller skating?

I remember skating really fast as a kid and that's what made me feel good. No tricks, nothing, just a whole lotta speed. Even now I try to add speed to my combo tricks because I love how my tricks feel with speed. And style is another thing I stress on. If my trick looks half baked I'm going to spend extra days making it stylish. I don't really like posting on social media that much so I have no worries taking it slow and perfecting my tricks.

Q: Your style includes movements from parkour, dance skating and lots of style, how did you put these together to complement your park/street skating?

A: I'm so lucky to have learned these other styles and it definitely compliments my combo tricks. Jam skating has given me control on my spins and edges so it's easier for me to pull manuals etc and parkour has given me the strength to do tricks that seem impossible to me. I also love the way I can use my hands while skating for tricks.

Q: We saw you took part in a roller skate choreography for a Netflix show, could you share a bit about that process?

Yes! I got this project in 2021 where I had to coach the actors for a small scene in the movie. I had only 3 months initially so I had to teach them at a very fast pace but at the same time I had to stress on the fact that they HAVE to enjoy the process or else it's not going to work out. I know how it feels to not be able to land a trick and I didn't want them to get demotivated. They couldn't move on the first day but I still taught them a few things so they could go back home and feel good about it. Every session was me trying to make them feel like they're at a party. That's what made them enjoy the process. Being actors it's not okay to fall and get injured but they enjoyed the process so much that they had fun falling. We ended up learning not one trick a day but 3-4 different tricks. I truly believe that with the right guidance and techniques it's very easy for anyone to learn. One coach could take a year teaching some moves but another could do it in days. After 4 months of training they could do many jam skating moves with style. Then came in the choreography for which Candice Heiden was brought down to work with another Bollywood choreographer and they trained me for a week to go train the girls on set. The song is one thing in the movie but Veronica in the film had a lot of skate scenes apart from that. So the shoot was going on simultaneously. I can't even explain the feeling of seeing Suhana khan for her first skating shot in the beginning of the movie. I felt like I've achieved something big watching her kill it! She did so well beyond everyone's expectations. After they shot the song everyone was amazed in the crew because they expected some basic skating. After 2 years the film released in Dec 2023 and I'm so happy and satisfied. These girls would be the 2nd few people who actually know jam skating in
India!

Q: Your edit featured amazing landscapes from your motherland, how would you describe roller skating in India?

A: India is so beautiful but I guess it's portrayed in a very different way all over the world. Bombay has a mix of people from super rich to poor so we have good areas for skating and bad. I skate in Bandra which has such a beautiful infrastructure for street skating and Every place in every country has its good and bad parts. I always pick the good parts in my edits because people don't get to see that side In movies etc it's always the dirty parts that are highlighted. Bottom line is that I love the streets for skating especially in Bombay where people are more open minded and cops don't kick you out of every place. It's a good feeling to be accepted and respected for what you do. Bombay is full of inline park skaters, very few on quads but I'm hoping that picks up very soon.

Q: What is in the future for Eshna?

I'm just going with the flow. I used to work in the music scene full time. Designing gigs, working on stage design and album artworks and had a good flow of money but I've left all that behind to see where my life takes me. I don't want to slog my ass off anymore. I want to live and satisfy my soul with everything I do. Even if I take up a project I want it to be fun or else it's not worth my stress. Because of my design background I also see street skating in the same way. It's like creating an artwork on a certain obstacle which is my canvas. I've been lucky to have enough skate projects to come my way to sustain me so far. And I have another project of building a space for skaters. Apart from that I just want to work on my art and make it seamlessly beautiful.

Watch more of Eshna's skating on her instagram @eshna.g https://www.instagram.com/eshna.g/

Music video- https://youtu.be/sh8_g9wHfKM?si=nfPR5UUsa6a83Acs

Making of the first skate scene (watch 2:28) - https://youtu.be/KXZuDv1--w4?si=aa-HlWxWaoIJFApW