Mahindra celebrates 'father-daughter' bond

The campaign, titled 'Proud Fathers for Daughters', has been conceptualised by well-known photographer Atul Kasbekar, and is aimed at giving educational support to underprivileged girls

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | August 29, 2014

Mahindra has launched a campaign, 'Proud Fathers for Daughters', as part of its Nanhi Kali initiative to give educational support to underprivileged girls. Project Nanhi Kali is jointly managed by the KC Mahindra Education Trust and the Naandi Foundation, and currently reaches out to almost 100,000 girls from remote rural, tribal and poor urban communities, across nine states in India.

The campaign features photographs of celebrities and their daughters. It aims to inspire more fathers to celebrate the special bond with their daughters. The campaign seeks to encourage families to have pride in their girl child, and creates a movement where sons and daughters are viewed as equals. The campaign is not, however, restricted to celebrities, but also encourages fathers from all walks of life to capture the essence of their relationships with their daughters, through photographs taken by well-known photographers Atul Kasbekar and Daboo Ratnani, in exchange for a small donation to Project Nanhi Kali.

The campaign has been conceptualised by Kasbekar. Celebrities such as Anil and Sonam Kapoor, Sachin and Sara Tendulkar, Rishi and Riddhima Kapoor, Javed and Zoya Akhtar and Alyque Padamsee with his daughters Shazahn and Raell, are all part of the campaign which is being promoted through social media.

Anand Mahindra

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, said, “As the proud father of two daughters, I believe that initiatives such as this can create a ripple effect and gradually help bring about an attitudinal change in our society, where there is a marked preference for boys over girls. We need to value and cherish our daughters and give them the same opportunities as our sons, which is the guiding spirit of Nanhi Kali as well.”

Atul Kasbekar

Kasbekar commented, “After shooting for more than two decades, I find a deep inner need to create images that have value outside commercial considerations. That India is sitting on a time bomb, given the skewed gender ratio, is now glaringly obvious and the need to fix it is of paramount importance. My personal belief is that a mindset change has more of a social impact than any number of laws possibly could. If my images can make a difference to this important issue, it would be most gratifying.”

Anand Mahindra founded Project Nanhi Kali with a strong belief that educated women would not only contribute to the economy, but also that issues of population and social evils like the dowry system and child marriage would reduce as more women get educated. Project Nanhi Kali is a participatory project where any individual or corporate can sponsor the education of an underprivileged girl child annually for Rs 3,000 for a Nanhi Kali studying in classes 1-5 and Rs 4,200 for a Nanhi Kali studying in classes 6-10.

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