Medha is the first Indian Women Cosplayer to win an International award. But before diving deep into her success let us understand what is Cosplay.
All about cosplaying!
The term cosplaying coined by a Japanese animator Nobuyuki Takahashi after he attended a US convention. By 1990s cosplay became a hot trend in Japan. It is basically a performance art that involves dressing up as your favorite character. Be it an Anime, Cartoon, Games, etc. and showcasing it in various conventions all around the globe. Cosplaying is also done at a professional level where cosplayers are hired for special events. Mc Caskill estimates that top tier cosplayers might make $70 – $125000 a year.
What started as a source of entertainment soon picked up enormous fame and emerged out as something unique. Many international conventions and competitions are being organized related to it.
The Cosplay Mania an annual convention in Manila, Philippines, the End Year cosplay festival in Singapore and the World Cosplay Summit at Nagoya in Japan. These are some of the finest examples where best cosplayers from all around the world compete. The best part about displaying is that anyone can do it. With the help of some innovation and imagination, even you can dress up as your favorite character.
Cosplaying in India
This performance art in India is till now unsuccessful in establishing its roots, although the seed has begun to germinate in the form of various competitions being organized in India. Cosplayers get cash prizes up to Rs 50,000 at various gaming events and Comic conventions that run in India by the name Comic-Con.
The winners are given a golden opportunity to represent the country at an international event known as the “Crown Championship of Cosplay”. It takes place in Chicago where prizes amount to as much as ₹10,000 (Rs 7 lakh).
Cosplayers in India make anywhere between Rs 800 per hour and Rs 2500 per day. Which is much less than what the international players make.
Cosplaying is restricted mostly to the metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru. Cosplayers post their work on ” Indian Cosplay Community” a Facebook group with around 3000 members. People reach out to them with orders seeing their profile.
Medha Srivastava and her role in Cosplaying and Empowering Women
She is one of the best examples of those women who brought laurels to our country and added a brick to the path of changing the fickle mindedness of the Indian Community that tries to subdue them.
Medha is the first Indian female cosplayer to win an International award. The Goregaon based Medha Srivastava won the International Cosplaying contest in China and bagged $2000 for Best Technique. It was for her self designed costume made of foam of Legion Commander from Dota 2. In an interview she tells,” Previously to create a wig, I had to stuck bits of white hair on foam but that hairpiece became so heavy that my head started hurting” recalls Medha, She then decided to replace the wig with the feather of fur.
She is also the winner of the Fan Favourite Indian Championship of Cosplay at Comic-Con India 2020 and ESL Mumbai 2019. As a child, she was inclined towards performance arts and fancy dress but never thought she would make cosplay as her profession. She is a game artist with a degree in animation and film making. Being surrounded by such an environment, cosplay was a natural attraction for her. She is also a great sketcher and draws some amazing pieces of arts.
Medha Srivastav favorite cosplay to date is Kier from Court of the dead.
Medha was praised heavily on Reddit when she was cosplaying as Pharah from Overwatch. It got viral and a lot of people thought it was real. She has a huge fan base of around 12.4K followers on Instagram.
Medha was also featured in the Jockey Women Presented Portraits Season 3 on MTV India. She featured on episode 6. Portraits covered emerging and empowering women in India from various fields.
Family support proved to be a key element in her success. Her parents were supportive and never forced their views upon her. Her mother a retired English teacher always promoted her to the world of music and art.
Gender never became an obstruction in her life for her parents never questioned her capabilities. This young 29-year-old player gave a new life to cosplaying in India and came forward as an example of women empowerment in India where many girls are considered a curse the moment they are born. She is surely a pride to our nations and an inspiration to many aficionados who wants to excel in this field.
Keep up the spirit Medha! The nation will always be proud of you.
Follow her on instagram here.
