Defiance and Definition SOFIA ASHRAF, 29
From Being
known as ‘The Burqa Rapper’ in college to becoming an advocate of important social and environmental issues, Sofia Ashraf believes she's a writer first and rapper second. “It was only after activist and journalist Nityanand Jayaraman told me that I could use my words to put out a strong social message as well, that I started looking for issues that truly resonated with my values,” says Ashraf.
This has probably fuelled Ashraf’s intense and relentless activism against corporate giants and government projects that flout environmental laws and don’t own up. She carries this out as part of ‘Justice Rocks’–a rock movement much like “Woodstock, but with a message,” in Ashraf’s own words.
Most recently, her work with Justice Rocks led her to make the now viral video Kodaikanal Won’t and consecutively, made Hindustan Unilever compensate the former workers of its mercury factory in Kodaikanal, after its alleged mercury poisoning in the hill station.
To rebel with a cause
Ashraf’s music, in many ways, best describes Chennai’s generation which is at a cusp–one that fights tooth and nail for its traditional definitions to stay but also for new changes to grow into. She’s now a writer, producer at director at Culture Machine’s YouTube channel ‘Blush’, for which she is creating a series, Sista from
the South. “It explores the identity of the modern woman and the gamut of experiences that are unique to her. It’s the side that mainstream media hasn’t seen; probably because a majority of its writers are men or from the North,” says Ashraf, adding, “It’s all of my life’s experiences filtered through these videos.”