First I Was Trolled, Then I Got My First Film Role Through Facebook

By Gunit Cour, 20, Delhi, Mumbai

When I was 12, someone created a fake Facebook ID in my name with my face morphed into an indecent photo. I was then a student on Mother’s International School in Delhi. Strangers sent me online messages asking, “How much do you charge?” Horrible things were etched about me on my desk in school.

It was a terrible time for me; I went into a tizzy of depression and fear. My dad removed all my photos from Facebook. I deactivated most of my social-media accounts. We moved to Chandigarh two years later.

My career-counsellor mother advised me not to join ‘the rat race’. In fact, I was always attracted to acting, like my doctor dad, so my parents enrolled me in an acting course.

Gradually, we realized that just as hygiene is essential for a doctor, social media is essential for an actor.

So, gulping down my dread, I became active online again.

Soon, Punjabi filmmaker Pali Bhupinder Singh saw my Facebook photos and asked me to come in for an audition. I was 15 when I was cast in my first feature film, Stupid 7. It released when I was 16.

I then went for a two-year diploma in acting from the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts and have now moved to Mumbai. I model for advertisements and it’s a delight to see my photo up on hoardings!

I now understand that I had to face my fear so that I could meet my destiny.

First published in the October 2017 issue of eShe magazine. Read it for free here.