Battling all odds for her dreams

Juhi Sharma, a 25-year-old cinematographer from Chennai, has been trolled viciously with misogynistic comments filled with sexual innuendos during the past month. The reason? She started a crowdfunding initiative to raise $18000 to finance her Masters in Directing at the Brooklyn College in New York. 

The young cinematographer, who received an acceptance letter from the university in April, launched the crowdfunding initiative after she was left with no other means to finance her studies. 

“I’m the only earning member in my family right now and my parents cannot afford my education. I went up and down a long list of banks seeking a loan, but I was denied one as they apparently don’t fund ‘cinema’ courses. 

Arts scholarships are also very few in our country. This is when one of my friends found that a girl from India had successfully crowdfunded her way to Harvard. 

Since, I do have experience crowdfunding for social initiatives and I myself donate to social causes on such platforms, I decided to try it out as a last resort,” says Juhi. While many understandably questioned why they should contribute towards Juhi’s education when there are other more deserving causes, others saw it as an opportunity for slut-shaming.  

“I have been has been trolled viciously and misogynistic comments with sexual innuendos are still being sent at me online… It was a shocking and traumatic experience for me because people who didn’t know me were telling me things I never imagined would ever be said to me. 

I reported them to both Facebook and Twitter, but was told that it does not violate their community standards. I didn’t want to respond to these abuses directly and start a twitter war. My mother keeps reassuring me that a woman in limelight, however small it may be, will have to face such abuses and told me to ignore them,” adds Juhi, becoming visibly upset. 

This is not the first time Juhi has experienced misogyny. “The first time I was hired as a cinematographer, I was told that I was being selected as eye-candy for the actor. I was disgusted by what I was told and have never since tried to work in the feature film industry. 

I have also had peoople offer me Rs 500 a day for a project, that was later given to men not even half as experienced or qualified for Rs 2,000 a day,” she explains.

However, now, Juhi has successfully raised her target amount and more. “I think the government should offer more scholarships for arts students, but if not, I think crowdfunding is a beautiful platform for people whose parents cannot afford to give them the education that they desire.

 I was  surprised by the number of people who wrote on the contribution note, ‘I could never pursue my dreams because I couldn’t afford them. I wish this will help you to pursue yours.’ It’s so sad how many dream have been killed because they lack the means for it. 

So, I have decided to keep aside the extra money I received from crowdfunding to start a fund for Indian Women Filmmakers.  I also want to start a new crowdfunding initiative for this  scholarship,” she signs off hopefully.