The World Health Organisation in 2002 estimated that 73 million boys and 150 million girls under the age of 18 had experienced various forms of sexual violence. But is there a way to really hit a problem without using cinema? That's exactly what occurred to the folks at Young Indians, an initiative formed by CII, with regard to their crowdsourced, anti-abuse campaign Leher.
Leher aims to bring together counselors, storytellers, filmmakers, copywriters, parents, students and people working in the creative arts, to put together the scripts for 52 videos, each approximately one minute long. These videos will be made available to anyone who's working in this space — like NGOs — free of cost. The 52 one-minute videos will cover varied topics around child sexual abuse — good touch, bad touch, POCSO Act guidelines and much more.
They will be educational and suggest to children what they should be doing when faced with such problems. "We are also talking to multiplexes as well as international film festival organisers so that these videos can be made available and screened on a regular basis. So probably if we go to an INOX or a PVR we can see it on the screens before a movie starts. We are planning to air new movie clips every week so that the impact becomes multifold," says Laeeq Ali, Chair of Young Indians Bengaluru.
Young Indians is a youth body under the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) that comprises of professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders from different walks of life, who voluntarily become a part of this organisation to create positive change in the country. "We have been doing programs around CSA, sensitising kids and teachers for the past 2-3 years. We have identified that there is a big dearth of content, which is necessary while working towards the betterment of such a cause. Educating these kids is a very cumbersome task because of how sensitive the topic is. From this perspective, we realised that content is the biggest gap that's creating an obstacle for us to have an impact," says Laeeq.
It includes a contest too, where the top three entries will be rewarded with cash prizes. Anyone who wants to participate can visit www.YIleher.in. The response has been great so far. "We have around 80 scripts now that we can choose from. The scripts are available on the website. Anyone who is capable of producing it they can register online and we will give them access to all the scripts, of which they can select whichever they like, and then produce it on their own," explains Laeeq. The submissions will be judged by a panel of eminent film and theatre personalities and will be handpicked by eminent producers to bring the story to life.
