Enabling social change through 'Navrangi Re!'

'Navrangi Re!' is a show focussed on sanitation, in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and BBC Media Action.

By ET Bureau | Updated: Jan 28, 2019, 11.33 AM IST

Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO & MD, Viacom18, throws light on 'Navrangi Re!', a show focussed on sanitation, in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and BBC Media Action.

How does awareness building fit in the business of entertainment?
At Viacom18, we believe we have the power to educate, create awareness and bring about a change in people’s mindset through our content and programming. We have always been a network with a humane purpose and we strongly feel that doing good is also good for business.

We witnessed this with our film 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' which was both a profitable venture and had a noticeable behaviour change impact on society. We have seen that stories touch people, forcing them to think and change their behaviour.

As the country’s foremost storytellers, we want to utilise our core business competence to create a positive impact on society in general.

Viacom18 has recently associated with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and BBC Media Action. How are you taking this association forward?
This is the first time that a media and entertainment company as big as Viacom 18 has partnered with the world’s largest philanthropic organisation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and development communications specialists, BBC Media Action to create a general entertainment fiction series with an underlying behaviour change message on sanitation.

This partnership leverages the material and knowledge resources of the Foundation, the creative talent of BBC and the amplification platforms of Viacom18 —all core business strengths contributing towards one single goal of mainstreaming an issue as nuanced as Faecal Sludge Management.

Do you think a 13-week finite series like 'Navrangi Re!' can bring about behavioural change?
'Navrangi Re!' is a concerted attempt to bring awareness to an issue that is crucial to keep Bharat swacch. It is an extremely complicated and nuanced subject compared to open defecation. So while it is ambitious to consider behavioural change in 13 weeks, raising awareness is very possible and the chief aim of this collaboration.

For a good cause: Here are some Bollywood stars who endorsed social campaigns

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The government has roped in Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan to promote Goods and Services Tax (GST), ahead of the sweeping tax reforms implementation scheduled from July 1. The megastar has been roped in just as the roll out of the biggest tax overhaul since independence entered its final phase. Ace badminton star PV Sindhu was previously the GST ambassador. This is not the first time that Big G has promoted a social campaign. Earlier, he was named the UNICEF brand ambassador for polio eradication. He has also been associated with 'Incredible India' campaign and Tiger conservation, since 2016.