Acting
When Aparna Rajawat was little, her brother told her girls weren't allowed to fly kites. When she asked him where the laws were written for girls, he slapped her so hard it knocked her down. She learned firsthand the violence some women face in India. With her mother's blessings, she secretly took karate lessons to learn to defend herself. She surprised everyone and made headlines when she knocked out the state champion in her first match. There weren't many competitions for girls, so she cut her hair and competed as a boy. Being a boy, she learned that girls were treated like servants and boys were treated like kings. She went on to become India's sixteen-time national champion in martial arts. Aparna later started the Pink Belt Mission to teach women self-determination and self-defense. Pink Belt follows her life story and her attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most women trained in a self-defense lesson, to bring attention to her cause of women's safety.
2024
