Aazadi (Freedom) – a film about courage, hope and judo.

The Project

This is a film about hope, determination and courage and seeing a ray of light in an otherwise dark future. It’s about a group of impoverished and discriminated against young women who have used the Olympic sport of Judo to enrich their lives, build their confidence, self-esteem, educational opportunities, gain employment and generally live a life they would otherwise not have had. They have learned to defend themselves against abuse which, sadly, is an everyday concern for them in this part of India and have fought against all odds.

These incredible young women are united in spirit and united in their fight for a better life and also have one other thing in common:

They are all blind.

Background

Being a female in India is often far more difficult than it is in most other countries. With countless stories of abuse and incidents of rape and other assaults, it is easy to forget that Indian society often also places further pressure on women to be a certain way. Even taking part in sport can be difficult for most young girls and women in India as families pressurise them to prepare themselves for marriage, often arranged.

But when factoring in poverty and a lack of social support, not to mention disabilities such as blindness and other visual impairments, the situation can be devastating.

With 20% of the world’s blind and visually impaired living in India and in a country where healthcare can be hard and expensive to access, particularly in rural areas, it can appear hopeless to many. Less than 30% of this huge blind population are educated, many have never encountered braille and even fewer find employment.

The strength, courage and determination of those who are overcoming these factors are extraordinary and this film will project that message to the world.

Fund Raising

To tell this remarkable story, we need your help to get the film made and, importantly, seen by as many people as possible around the world.

To maximise the film's impact, we aim to create a campaign to raise awareness to the issues those in our film face every single day.

Characters

Our key characters are all young women who range in Judo ability from the paralympic hopeful to those just finding their feet in the sport after years of hiding away at home in fear and through low self-esteem. Some have gone on to find their first jobs after having trained for some time and some have not only managed to get out of their homes but also out of their villages, states and for some, they have even travelled the world due to their participation in the sport, something they once thought impossible.