Mann ke Manjeere

Transcription

Mann ke Manjeere

Breakthrough
Case Study
Mann ke Manjeere
An Album of Women’s Dreams
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Breakthrough Case Study // Mann ke Manjeere
Breakthrough is
a human rights
organization
seeking to make violence and discrimination
against women and girls unacceptable. We
use the power of arts, media, pop culture, and
community mobilization to inspire people to take
bold action to build a world in which all people
live with dignity, equality, and justice.
We create groundbreaking multimedia
campaigns that bring human rights issues into
the mainstream and make them relevant and
urgent to individuals and communities worldwide.
These, along with our in-depth training’s of young
people, government officials, and community
groups, have ignited a new Breakthrough
Generation of leaders sparking change in the
world around them.
www.inbreakthrough.tv
www.facebook.com/BreakthroughIN
@INBreakthrough
E-1 A, First Floor, Kailash Colony, New Delhi 110048, India
91-11-41666101
91-11-41666107
[email protected]
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Introduction
Oxfam Novib
In 2010, Oxfam Novib, Puntos de Encuentro, Breakthrough,
the Soul City Institute of Health and Development
communication and The Communication Initiative formed
a global partnership in social communication and
Edutainment which aims to scale up Edutainment strategies.
Many civil society organizations
supported by Oxfam Novib have
indicated they want to explore the
potential of Edutainment to achieve
their goals. The global Edutainment
partnership is keen to invest in global
learning on Edutainment. It aims to
make new media accessible to mass
audiences, in order to foster social
change, strengthen alliances and build
social movements.
The expert Edutainment organizations
(Puntos de Encuentro, Breakthrough,
the Soul City Institute) share their
knowledge, tools and strategies
with civil society organizations in
11 countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Vietnam, Egypt, Niger,
Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Mali, and
Rwanda. The Communication Initiative
will support the linking and learning
component through their EE online
platform (www.comminit.com).
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The purpose of the global partnership
is to help develop high quality,
tailor-made edutainment strategies
in combination with community
mobilization strategies.
The global Edutainment partnership
for social change has consistently
added value to existing experiences.
It does not seek to replace national incountry initiatives, but complement and
strengthen them.
Global collaboration creates space
for debate and learning and provides
economies of scale, a global network to
address common issues, coherence of
approach, and opportunities to share
and exchange ideas and information.
Mann ke Manjeere
An Album of Women’s Dreams
Mann ke Manjeere (Rhythm of the Mind): An Album of
Women’s Dreams, released in September 2000, was
Breakthrough’s founding initiative. Its success represented the
first time in India that an album about social issues became
a chartbuster — and the first time that the topic of violence
against women burst into public, mainstream conversation.
The album was the brainchild of
Breakthrough founder Mallika Dutt,
who heard repeatedly that if Mann ke
Manjeere (MKM) were ever produced,
no one would buy it. As it turned out,
the album held fast on India’s Top Ten
for six months and won numerous
music and video awards and accolades,
including nominations for Best Album,
Best Artist, and Best Music Director at
the 2001 Screen Awards -- India’s most
mainstream entertainment awards.
Young male leaders in the advertising
industry collaborated on the album.
Award-winning poet, lyricist, and
copywriter Prasoon Joshi wrote the
evocative lyrics. Recipient of the Bronze
Lion and acclaimed music director and
composer Shantanu Moitra (“Parineeta,
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Lage Raho
Munnabhai, 3 Idiots and Ab ke Sawan”)
composed the music.
Featuring five songs by Shubha Mudgal
— India’s most renowned contemporary
female vocalist in India — MKM combines
the best musical elements of folk,
contemporary and classical Indian forms.
Also featured are songs by two traditional
folk artists, Diwaliben and Rukmabai, and
two contemporary singers, Mahalakshmi
and Antara Chowdhury.
The music video for the title track, directed
by Shoojit Sircar and Gary formerly of Red
Ice, celebrates a woman who walks out of
her abusive marriage and becomes a truck
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driver. Featuring Bollywood actor Mita
Vashisht, the video reached more than
100 million households across South Asia
through six satellite music channels and
millions more across Asia and the rest of
the world. Its YouTube views continue to
climb.
The album inlay asked listeners
to engage in five acts to support
women’s dreams:

Stop dowry
Prevent violence
Share housework
Educate girls
Support equal inheritance
Breakthrough shared royalties with three
scholarship funds for young women and
girls based in Mumbai, New Delhi, and
Bangalore.
With its emotional, authentic,
humanizing, and positive portrayal of
women, MKM pushed their lives and
rights into public conversation and
challenged audiences to think and talk
about the human impact of violence
against women. Groups around the
world continue to use the video to
engage audiences around women’s
rights and the need to make violence
against women unacceptable. More than
a decade later, MKM still inspires us to
help build a world in which women are
safe in their communities and limitless in
their dreams.
What’s in this
Case Study?
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1
CONCEPT
// PAGE 06
Mann ke Manjeere: An Album of Women’s Dreams
2
COURSE
// PAGE 10
Mann ke Manjeere: The Music Video
Babul: The Music Video
3
RESULTS
// PAGE 14
Dissemination and Reach
Impact and Evaluation
Lessons Learned and Way Forward
6
1
Mann ke Manjeere:
An Album of
Women’s Dreams
At the turn of the 21st century, India was perched on the
threshold of unprecedented change. It was projected as an
impressive emerging economy with a burgeoning upper
middle-class and a large, vibrant youth population. Its
growing elite welcomed the fruits of liberalization and the
young embraced the vistas that economic mobility opened
up for them. With Indian leaders projecting a nine percent
growth rate, there was little doubt that this would be the
Indian century.
At the same time, an equally significant,
albeit dark, story was unfolding. India’s
growing modernity was masking the
plight of its women. A global survey
ranked India at fourth position on a
list of “countries most dangerous
for women”1. The world’s largest
democracy held this dubious position
owing to the widespread prevalence
of different forms of violence against
women—sex selective abortions; child
marriages; high levels of trafficking;
domestic violence; dowry deaths;
sexual harassment and assault; and lack
of access to education, employment,
property, and healthcare.
1 The survey was conducted among
gender experts and carried out by
Trust Law, a legal news service run by
Thomson Reuters Foundation.
For more details, see “The world’s most
dangerous countries for women”
(June 15, 2011)
http://www.reuters.com/
article/2011/06/15/us-women-dangerfactbox-idUSTRE75E32A20110615
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India also fared poorly on human
development indices such as female
literacy, female life expectancy, and
female employment participation in
the economy. Age-old cultural beliefs,
attitudes, and practices, rooted in
patriarchal structures, mixed together
to deny women and girls basic human
freedoms and rights, guaranteed to
them by the Indian Constitution.
The women’s rights movement in
India struggled for years to create the
political and social will to end these
acts of violence. It had some success,
in influencing the government and
law enforcement officers to be more
proactive in addressing gender-based
violence. It was also able to embolden
women experiencing domestic
violence to file complaints with the
police and seek help from civil society
organizations. Diverse stakeholders,
including state- and non-state actors,
supported women’s groups in their
efforts to transform gender relations.
But, at the turn of the 21st century,
the psyche of most Indians remained
untouched.
In 1999, Mallika Dutt, an active
participant in the women’s movement
and cofounder of a shelter for women
experiencing domestic violence,
came to the realization that traditional
methods of advocacy were insufficient
to build a society where women and
girls could enjoy basic human rights.
The creation of gender relations based
on equality, respect, and an inclusive
sense of power, required a pedagogy
that went beyond mere cerebral
engagement.
The pedagogy had to be one that could
draw a wide cross-section of Indian society
into a dialogue on women’s rights. It was
clear to Dutt that the effectiveness of such
an approach would depend on its ability to
India’s 2011 census shows a decline in the
number of girls under the age of seven.
In the national capital Delhi,
this figure stood at a dismal
866 :1000
196
1
976 :1000
GIRLSBOYS
201
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appeal to peoples’ sense of reason even as it
touched an emotional chord in them.
Further, with India’s youth constituting
a large sub-group—nearly 35%—of
the country’s population, Dutt was
conscious of the need to conscientize
them about these issues. If the belief
systems and attitudes of the young
could be influenced, this would go
a long way in breaking the cycle of
gender-based violence, perpetuated
from one generation to the next
since centuries. The medium used to
communicate the message of gender
equality had to therefore, be one that
could capture the imagination of those
below the age of 35.
This called for new methods in social
communication, which drew on the
potential of the emerging multimedia
and pop culture industry—the primary
consumers of which were teenagers
and young adults. The use of the
entertainment and music industry
to raise awareness about genderbased violence was a novel idea—the
potential of which had hitherto been
untapped. Their selection was strategic.
Dutt hoped to use their popularity and
mass appeal to initiate a public dialogue
on human rights for women.
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GIRLSBOYS
914 :1000
GIRLSBOYS
8 mn
female foetuses may
have been aborted in
the past decade.
It was in this backdrop that Dutt
conceptualized Mann ke Manjeere, a
music album based on the aspirations
and hopes of Indian women for the 21st
century. As a cutting-edge, compelling
campaign that sought to initiate public
dialogue, influence attitudes, and
change behavior, the album comprised
nine songs, each articulating different
aspects of a woman’s life, her desires
and emotions, the challenges she faces
in her community, and what she does
(or can do) to build unfettered spaces
for herself (and her children).
The songs highlighted different issues
concerning the status of women in India
and the restrictions imposed on them
by their families and society. At the
same time, each composition brought
out the essence of being a woman in a
patriarchal society and her agency in
overcoming oppression.
On the whole, the album drew on the
power of soul-stirring lyrics, music,
and powerful imagery, to convey an
unambiguous message to audiences
in India and beyond—advocacy of
human rights is not “someone else’s
responsibility”; rather each individual
must do what is in his or her capacity to
end violence against women and girls.
100 mn
women and girls have
been forced into some
form of trafficking.
Mallika Dutt
President & CEO
How does one make people
aware of problems? How
does one mainstream human
rights? How does one make
people act differently? These
are the questions that led us to
creating Breakthrough…What
are women’s dreams? What are
women’s aspirations? And what
are the things that happen to
us to prevent our dreams from
being realized? This is how Mann
ke Manjeere came into being.
Prasoon Joshi
Lyricist
The purpose was to give voice and expression to women, and to contribute
positively to the cause of women’s rights…Different women were portrayed in
each song. In writing the songs, I felt that each song must evoke in the listener the
complex emotions experienced by women…Mann ke Manjeere is about hope
and inspiration, about a woman who has the courage to make her own decisions,
live life on her terms, and be her own companion. Babul is the reality of a situation
based on personal experience; and Jheel is almost every woman’s song…
Since the purpose was to foreground
the issue of gender-based violence,
domestic violence in particular, in
public discourse, Mann ke Manjeere
saw a coming together of professionals
from the mainstream music and
entertainment industries. The album
was therefore marketed by Star TV and
released by Virgin Records. The songs
were penned by acclaimed lyricist
Prasoon Joshi, composed by upcoming
music director Shantanu Moitra, and
sung by a dynamic and inspirational
group of women from across India.
Shubha Mudgal, one of the most
versatile and popular performers of
Hindustani music, lent her voice to the
title track Mann ke Manjeere, as also
to the soul-stirring Babul Jiya Mora,
Intezaar, Jheel, and Maati. A renowned
classical vocalist and composer
for forms as diverse as film, ballet,
documentary, and television signature
tunes, Mudgal’s sensitivity to women’s
Almost 40% married women
are physically abused
A crime is committed against a
woman every 3 minutes in India.
issues and vast knowledge of music
contributed to the development of the
Mann ke Manjeere album. While the
title song Mann ke Manjeere portrayed
the exuberance of a woman on the path
of self-discovery and celebrated her
courage in taking the decision to live life
on her own terms, Maati used earth and
nature to metaphorically acknowledge
and laud the strength of every woman.
Jheel explored a woman’s frustration
in being as still and unmoving as a lake,
unable to flow freely and break free,
when there is a strong desire to do so.
Babul gave voice to the pleas of a little
girl who asked her father to arrange her
marriage to an ironsmith who would
“break her chains”. Intezaar was a
melancholic, slow ballad describing
the eternal wait of a woman for the
realization of her dreams.
The album was however not limited
to mainstream artists. Conscious of
Recorded dowry-related
death in India
IN EVERY
29 mins
8391
77mins
30%
one case of rape
1 in every 2
women face domestic
violence in at least one
of its forms—physical,
sexual, psychological
and/or economic.
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a recorded case of
dowry death.
9 mins
cases of cruelty meted
out by husbands and
in-laws are seen.
cases in 2010
increase 2009 figures.
The actual numbers are
expected to be higher
since many dowry
deaths
are projected as suicides
or accidents.
Indian women constitute more than half of enrolment in higher education, yet
female employment participation in the economy stands far less than men.
Enrolment in
higher education
50%
the need to foreground the voices
and perspectives of marginalized
Indian women, particularly those from
rural India, Dutt invited folk singers
Rukmabai, the first woman from
Rajasthan’s Manganiyar community to
perform in public, and Diwaliben Bhil, a
renowned singer from Junagadh who
received the Padmashree in 1990, to
participate in this initiative. Kesariya
Balam, a Rajashtani folk song based on
the Raga Mand, was sung by Rukmabai.
Born with polio and unable to walk,
she lives in a hut with her children on
the outskirts of Jaisalmer. Aiva Aiva,
a 200-year old Gujarati folk song with
additional lyrics by Prasoon Joshi,
was sung by Diwaliben. The inclusion
of contemporary, folk, and classical
musicians was a strategic decision
to facilitate a diversity of voice on a
common platform. In fact, it helped to
position the album as a symbol of the
syncretic musical and cultural traditions
of India.
Dutt and the core creative team were
aware that Mann ke Manjeere was an
experiment in exploring the efficacy of
the mass media and the commercial
entertainment sector in influencing
beliefs, attitudes, and practices on
women’s human rights. The goals of
the project therefore remained fluid,
and evolved organically to include
the following:
Reach out to young people and
engage them on human rights issues;
10
Employment
participation
20%
Reach out to people who otherwise
would be hesitant to talk about violence
against women and human rights;
Initiate a public dialogue on domestic
violence, and squarely locate
women’s human rights in public
consciousness.
As a tool to advance women’s rights,
this album was unique. The creative
and production team had consciously
refrained from directly pursuing the
issue of women’s rights in the lyrics
of the songs. Rather, the strategy was
to explore how women felt about the
challenges they confronted, each song
foregrounding a unique feeling and
aspiration, and depicting the life story
and psyche of a different woman—but
with threads of common imagery
that most women could relate to. For
instance, while Mann ke Manjeere,
Maati, Jheel, Babul, and Intezaar
portrayed diverse realities that different
women live with, they all evoked a
sense of women needing to be free,
independent, and able to make their
own choices.
In order to widen the reach and
impact of the songs, three of the nine
compositions were converted into
cult-classic music videos. Mann ke
Manjeere, the video, was released in
2000, followed by Babul in 2001, and
Maati in 2006.
Shubha Mudgal
Singer
In modern day India, many
women grew up with the feeling
that they neither have a space
in their parents’ home and the
space that is made for them in
their husbands’ home is not
really theirs. There is a sense of
displacement…of not having a
space that is your own…There is
a sense of being blocked off from
doing many things. Either social
norms don’t permit them or your
own upbringing has stopped you
from expressing yourself freely…
What attracted me to the concept
of Mann ke Manjeere was that
I would be singing about real
issues concerning women…
synchronizing popular art
with women’s rights….A very
noteworthy part of this album
is that the songs express the
viewpoints of many women
throughout India.
2.1
Mann ke Manjeere:
The Music Video
Mann ke Manjeere was inspired by the life of Shameem
Pathan, a young woman from Ahmedabad. The only
daughter among seven sons, Shameem walked out of an
abusive marriage with her three-year old son, and took up the
job of a tempo driver delivering goods to earn a livelihood.
She saved money to buy a matador van, which she would
use to ferry passengers. Adapting Pathan’s life story to the
music video of Mann ke Manjeere, actress Mita Vashisht
played the role of a fearless young mother who leaves an
abusive marriage and works as a truck driver to earn a
livelihood for her daughter and herself. Women of all ages
and backgrounds climb into the truck to escape the violence
they face in their lives. Each visual of the video challenged
conventional stereotypes of what women can and cannot
do—for instance, enjoying a cup of tea at a roadside dhaba
(without a male escort), dancing freely in the countryside, or
earning a livelihood as a truck driver. The video ends with
a visual of Mita Vashisht and her daughter playing in the
sand—mother and daughter, facing the world together.
In 2001, Mann ke Manjeere won the
Screen Awards in the “best IndiPop” music category, and was also
nominated for the MTV Awards. The
music, lyrics, visuals, actors, and
the voice of Shubha Mudgal jelled
together to make it a “great artistic
creation” and an astounding success,
appreciated by diverse audiences.
What was particularly appreciated
was the skill with which the video, in
a short space of time, dealt with many
different issues—individual freedom
and courage, non-stereotyped gender
roles and occupations, domestic
violence, a woman shaping the
destiny of her child, a woman showing
agency in her decision to walk out
of an abusive marriage, and taking
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charge of her own happiness. The
portrayal of the woman as a heroine,
even though she had reasons to feel
like a victim, was appreciated by
audiences, across genders, cultures,
and age-groups. Both male and female
viewers appreciated the fact that these
messages were conveyed in a subtle
manner and that the video was devoid
of moralizing sermons.
The vibrant, positive messages about
a woman taking charge of her own
life and destiny was received well by
social sector organizations who felt
that it made a valuable contribution to
women’s movements in South Asia
and the world. It energized women, and
made them believe that alternatives
A still from the music video
starring actress Mita Vashisht
were possible to a life of abuse. As
Meera Kakkar of the Thoughtshop
Foundation in Kolkata shared, “I have
formed a support group for women
where I show the MKM video. It is very
motivational and women feel inspired
to take charge of their own lives.”
Students were particularly influenced
by the vibrant and positive elements
of the lyrics and video, articulating
a desire to take ownership of the
decisions affecting their lives. In India,
the video was used by civil society
organizations such as Breakthrough,
Swayam and Sanhita in educational
institutions, with students and
teachers. In the USA, the video was
used directly in the classroom by
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both civil society organizations
and educators. In their responses,
the students were keen to take the
messages of the videos forward in ways
that would reach their community, by
being a part of youth groups, and by
talking about these issues at home and
in their communities. As an 18-year
old female student put it, “It made me
feel that women who have endured
violence should not stay silent and
continue in that situation of abuse.
The fact that the woman decided to
leave her life of abuse is an example
for all women.” A 20-year old female
respondent added, “I appreciated the
idea of a woman being her own soul
mate and companion.”
Other Songs on the Album
Beeti Raina reflected a woman’s
determination and resolve to
overcome darkness and was
sung by Mahalakshmi Iyer, a
well-known playback singer with
the distinction of singing in 16
languages including English,
Tamil, French, Russian, and
Arabic. Antara Chowdhury, a
multi-talented musician, trained
in Indian and Western Classical
music, with numerous hits to her
credit in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, and
Malayalam, was the voice behind
the light and lively Khwab Khwab,
which explored the different
dimensions of women’s dreams.
COURSE
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2.2
Babul:
The Music Video
For television-viewing audiences in India, Babul was hardhitting. It brought home the reality that upper middle-class
women are also susceptible to violence within the four walls
of their homes. In so doing, the video debunked the dominant
picture that is usually invoked when domestic violence is
mentioned—the image of poor, illiterate women who are
dependent on their husbands for economic survival.
According to the Crime Against Women
Cell of the Delhi Police, about 25% of
the monthly complaints of domestic
violence come from women who are
educated, professionally competent,
and belong to the upper middle
class2. Activists, police officers, and
government administrators however
feel that the actual figures would be
much higher owing to the social taboo
imposed on such women against
reporting cases of domestic violence.
Babul highlighted this sad reality at a
time when India projected itself as a
rising, liberal democratic economy.
2http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_
asia/2946760.stm
3 The video can be accessed on
http://www.breakthrough.tv/video/babulenglish-version.
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Babul was composed and sung
by Mudgal and adapted from the
traditional thumri repertoire. The lyrics
of the song reflected the thoughts of
a girl who explored the possibility of
marrying a goldsmith for jewelry, a
trader for money, a king for power.
She rejects all these possibilities, and
finally tells her father, “Marry me to an
ironsmith who will melt my chains”.
The video highlighted a hitherto
unaddressed issue—the lack of choice
and sense of powerlessness that many
urban, educated women from affluent
families experience in India. It was set in
an urban context at a party comprising
couples belonging to the upper middle
class. The girl walks through the room
and focuses on three couples, who
appear to be happy. However, she sees
through this façade of joviality, and
exposes, for the audience, the lives of
oppression that the women actually
lead. Behind closed doors, the violence
that women experience takes different
forms—psychological violence,
marital rape, and wife- battering. The
video ends with each woman calling
for freedom from the violence they
experience in their own homes3.
The video, however, did not fare well.
Music channels chose to give it less air
time than Mann ke Manjeere, screening
it for only four weeks. The marketing and
promotional teams at Virgin Records
and Star TV felt that Babul did not have
public appeal for different reasons—the
video was “short of average”, the lyrics
and the video were out of sync with one
another, there was confusion about
its message, it was not considered
mainstream enough, and it lacked visual
appeal as a music video (too dark and
somber). Ensuring airplay was therefore
a challenge. However, more significant
was the reaction of distributors and
marketers who were uncomfortable
about screening on television a video
that showed sexual violence within a
marriage. For them, as well as for many
in the audience, an acknowledgement
of the reality of sexual violence within
marriage was in itself difficult.
Criticism also stemmed from feminist
organizations, which felt that the video
was too much in “the victim syndrome”
mould and did not highlight women’s
agency. The lyrics were inconsistent
with the message of empowerment
because they conveyed that women
were still dependent on men to break
their chains. Rather than a woman
eliciting the support of a man in her
quest for independence, here, she was
asking him (her father) to marry her to a
man who could melt her chains. Many
viewers found this to be problematic.
However, the video worked well during
training sessions with women. For
example, a participant expressed that
the video depicted her life story—a
story that is otherwise difficult to share,
HIV-positive woman from Disha,
Saharanpur.
Male viewers who were interviewed
during the evaluation of this initiative
showed sensitivity to the issues
highlighted in the video, but feared that
the video painted all Indian men with
the same brush. There are many men
in India who support women’s rights
and are sensitive to the aspirations of
the women in their families. Moreover,
the institution of marriage, when based
on respect and equality, can bring
abundant happiness to both women and
the men. In this context, they felt that
Babul was too one-sided.
many urban Indians did not want to talk
about. Gender-based prejudices and
violence against women are an urban
reality, affecting middle- and uppermiddle class homes. The fulcrum of a
patriarchal culture based on the belief
that a man has the right to impose his
will and power over a woman, and use
violence if he so wishes, transcends
the fault lines of class, caste, religion,
ethnicity, and even nationality and race.
It is so deeply embedded in socialization
processes that often women themselves
trivialize this reality. Added to this, the
public private divide which operates
strongly in many middle class women’s
lives, leads to a further censoring of
the violence, which in turn deepens the
structures of oppression.
In this context, Dutt and Mudgal were of the
view that the lyrics and the video spoke to a
certain majority audience where women do
not have choices and where fathers decide
their daughters’ marriages. Within this reality,
Babul was extremely relevant. Dutt noted
that “Babul is very real, very hard hitting…a
complex video that grapples with difficult
issues”. Mudgal shared that “the Hindispeaking belt of north India related to the
lyrics of Babul” where it was in great demand.
Prasoon Pandey, the director of the video, felt
that “if even one woman’s problems are solved
by watching Babul, I would see it as a success”.
Many civil society organizations that
work with school and college students
found the video useful in facilitating
discussions on how domestic violence
affects children in the home. The trauma
that children experience in violent
homes is often overlooked, and the
video was a helpful tool in generating
this awareness. Organizations that
used the Babul video in their training
programs articulated the view that
lifestyles and cultures in India (as
also in other South Asian countries)
continue to be influenced by patriarchal
beliefs and practices. In such a context,
the messages contained in Babul
were relevant. In fact, civil society
organizations who used the video
in their work found the portrayal of
violence against women in an upper
middle class setting quite important,
particularly because it highlighted the
lack of choice that even educated and
affluent women experience. It countered
the dominant public perception that
upper middle-class women do not
experience domestic violence, and this
was a powerful message to convey
through a mass media tool. On the
flipside, male and female respondents
from the general public felt that the
issue was too serious and complex to be
shown in a music video.
Babul however was seeking to highlight
a different reality—a reality that perhaps
14
COURSE
14
3.1
Dissemination
and Reach
Mann ke Manjeere is mind blowing music. I
have not come across any song that expresses a
woman’s feeling of elation and freedom so well;
the rising beats of the music complement the
words, the listener can feel the tempo build.
The Album Promoted Five Acts:

Stop dowry;
Prevent violence;
Share housework;
Educate girls;
Support equal inheritance.
The emphasis on these
five messages, which were
highlighted at press
Mann ke Manjeere was marketed
and promoted as a cause-based
album, different from mainstream
commercial-oriented releases.
Three prominent FM radio stations
played songs from the music album
about six times a day for 60 days.
The music videos of Mann ke
Manjeere and Babul were aired on six
satellite music television channels,
reaching about 12 million people. The
channels included Zee Music, Channel
V, MTV, B4U, ETC, and Star TV.
Regional channels such as CCC, CVO,
Cable Net and Home TV also screened
the videos. While Mann ke Manjeere
was screened for about 10 weeks,
Babul was screened for four weeks.
Press coverage was complimentary
and significant. The album was
covered by 90 newspapers,
periodicals and magazines in
India, including some vernacular
publications.
Music shops, bookshops, coffee
shops and cyber cafes screened the
Mann Ke Manjeere video and played
compositions from the album.
Breakthrough undertook a six-city
(Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi,
15
— ONLINE POST
Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune)
promotional tour during which the
lyrics of the songs and the Mann ke
Manjeere video acquired immense
importance. The tours provided
the production team with the space
to interact with the general public
on the issues that the songs raised
and the five acts that the album
promoted. Mudgal gave several
on-the-spot performances and Joshi
recited the lyrics of some of his
compositions from the albums. The
tours received widespread press and
television coverage.
Breakthrough posted the music
videos and other songs from the
album on its website to widen their
reach and accessibility. The website
received scores of online posts
from men and women who found
the music and the two videos to be
inspirational and felt that the album
had made a significant contribution
to sensitizing the average citizen
about women’s rights. As one visitor
put it, “Mann ke Manjeere is mind
blowing music. I have not come
across any song that expresses
a woman’s feeling of elation and
freedom so well; the rising beats of
the music complement the words, the
listener can feel the tempo build.”
3.2
Impact and
Evaluation
In what ways did the Mann ke Manjeere album and music
videos touch people’s lives? Did they change people’s
perceptions and understandings of women’s rights? The
evaluation of the album’s efficacy as a tool for social change
was conducted through qualitative research techniques,
including open-ended interviews, questionnaires, and
focus group discussions. Press coverage of the initiative
and responses of visitors who posted online comments on
Breakthrough’s website were also analyzed.
Music as social text
How do songs change ideologies?
There is little doubt about the role
of music as a tool for mobilization.
Historically, it has been used by
marginalized groups and social
movements to articulate protest
and transform oppression. But can
it also play an emancipatory role? In
India, there is a paucity of research
on the impact of music, particularly
one that uses cutting-edge audiovisual mediums, on social change.
The potential that lies in the linkages
between the musical text, the creative
collaborations through which it
is composed, and the processes
through which it was disseminated,
received, and interpreted has remained
largely untapped, at least in India.
Breakthrough’s Mann ke Manjeere
initiative was a trail blazer in this
respect. Even as it mirrored the feelings
and experiences of Indian women, it
influenced the people who produced
the album as also those participated
as consumers. The qualitative
evaluation revealed that as a medium
of communication, Mann ke Manjeere
impacted the reality of those who came
within its fold, albeit in different ways
and to varying degrees. It challenged
the assumption that music merely
16
reflects existing social and cultural
realities, and demonstrated that music
can play an active part in the process
by which a serious public engagement
on gender-based inequities can be
initiated and translated into collective
action for advancing women’s rights.
It also showed how existing musical
traditions can be used creatively for
social transformation.
Multi-sector collaboration
Mann ke Manjeere represented the
first large-scale collaboration in India
between human rights advocates, the
mass media, and the entertainment
and corporate sectors to produce a
mainstream media product that could
positively influence attitudes and
behavior towards women. It offered
a blueprint for the establishment of
Breakthrough in 2001, which built on
its success to work more closely on
the integration of social issues with
mainstream media messaging, drawing
on the valuable support of the corporate
sector and entertainment industry.
The music album also generated an
awareness and sensitivity among
professionals in the marketing and
commercial music entertainment
industry vis-à-vis the need to take on
RESULTS
16
“social cause” projects. The initiative
created an exciting new space within
the pop culture entertainment industry
for non-profit groups to educate about
human rights and to squarely locate
the transformation of gender relations
within public discourse. In this sense,
the Breakthrough initiative laid the
groundwork for other organizations
to partner with the corporate sector to
build a human rights culture in India.
Diverse uses and audiences
For over a decade, the album and
music videos have been part of the
repertoire of civil society organizations,
educators, media, and youth groups
to build the will and skill to transform
gender relations. They have emerged as
powerful educational and training tools
to raise awareness, facilitate dialogue,
and build capacity for the advancement
of human rights. They have helped
to generate a public sensibility about
the right of every woman to live an
unfettered life of peace and happiness.
Breakthrough itself, has built leadership
capacities of over 80,000 women
and men to address gender-based
violence using the videos. They
have been incorporated into the
curriculum on gender sensitization of
hundreds of organizations, including
government agencies such as the Lal
Bahadur Shastri National Academy of
Administration, the National Institute
of Public Cooperation and Child
Development, NIPCCD, the Women’s
Development Cell of Delhi University,
and several educational institutions.
Organizations working with women
and youth were particularly enthused
to see a high-quality media production
on the issue, which could reach out
to large numbers of people. Archana
Srivastav, a facilitator with Mumbaibased YUVA (Youth for Unity and
Voluntary Action) shared that women
living in urban slums bonded with
one another “through the experience
and discussions of these songs.”The
relevance of the songs lay in the fact
that they inspired women to take charge
of their own lives, employing some
of the options shown in the Mann ke
Manjeere video or highlighted in the
compositions. “It is one of the best
albums on women. Each song brings
out the reality of different women, and
17
therefore all women, from any class of
society, could relate to the album”,
said Srivastav.
Even though the album and videos
were used primarily by civil society
organizations (and women’s groups in
particular), a key strength has been their
flexibility and adaptability to initiate
dialogue on different issues and with
different stakeholders. For example, in
addition to gender and human rights
trainings with women and men, the
album and videos have been used for
dialogues on sexuality, counseling,
stereotypes and prejudices, conflict
resolution, peace education, and inhouse organizational capacity building.
They have also engaged diverse
stakeholders such as entrepreneurs,
university students, UN officials,
journalists, adolescent boys and girls,
South Asian men, and the general
public. In addition, Breakthrough and
other organizations have strategically
used the audio-visual materials to
engage those people who otherwise
would be hesitant to talk about the
rights of women and who would prefer
to support the cultural silence around
gender-based violence.
Impact on general public
Conversations with individual men
and women revealed that there was a
discernible shift in consciousness—
people were moved into thinking more
intensely about these issues. There
was widespread acknowledgement
that the album gave a “new edge to
women’s issues” and consisted of
moving compositions based on the
real-life experiences of women. Most
significantly, it motivated ordinary
people to think about women’s human
rights as “not something out there”, but
a very real issue that affects most Indian
households in some way of the other.
Stories of real women
In addition to the poignant lyrics and
stirring melody, what set this music
initiative apart was that each song was
real and thought-provoking—inspired
by the true stories of courageous
women who had transcended the
shackles imposed on them. The
reflection of real-life experiences in the
lyrics as also in the storyline of the videos
was in fact the USP of the album, which
drew both male and female audiences
to it. Whether it was Shameem Pathan’s
experience with domestic violence, her
triumph over it, and her decision to work
in an ostensibly “male profession”, or
the stories of Rukmabai and Diwaliben,
who overcame centuries of gender-,
caste-, and class-based marginalization
to emerge as feminists in their own right,
and were given a space on the album,
these real life examples of transcendence
influenced all those who worked on the
creation, production, and marketing of
Mann ke Manjeere as also those who
participated as consumers.
Universal appeal transcending
cultural differences
Appreciation for the album and videos
came from audiences across South
Asia and beyond, including Tajikistan,
Indonesia and the United States.
On popular demand, a number of
translations of the videos were made in
vernacular and foreign languages. Nonprofit organizations, trainers, educators
and women’s advocacy groups in South
Asia and beyond found the album and
videos to be very useful educational tools,
particularly with respect to initiating
reflection, awareness and dialogue on
women’s rights. For example, Joanna
Kerr, International Chief Executive,
Action Aid, South Africa in a note to
Breakthrough said: “I have been so
impressed with the number of people
who have…requested copies of the
Breakthrough video, Mann ke Manjeere…
The reason for this is due to its truly
innovative and groundbreaking nature
that has struck a chord on an international
level in the lives of so many people.”
Responses from male audiences
Although women connected more closely
with the music and the videos, male
respondents too articulated a need to talk
about these issues in the public sphere
and to do something to end violence
against women. Even those who did not
initially pick up on the domestic violence
aspect of the Mann ke Manjeere video
revisited it again because of the stunning
visuals and powerful music. This helped
18
them to engage more deeply with the
diverse issues that the video highlighted.
Swayam, a Kolkata-based women’s
rights organization, employed a unique
strategy to draw in male audiences.
It played the album and screened the
videos at urban community meetings
with a purpose to draw men into
dialogue. Anamitra of Swayam shares,
“Men would come and listen to the
lyrics and ask us which songs they were
and who the singers were.” Swayam
would use these opportunities to initiate
discussions on women’s rights and
explore the meanings of the songs with
both men and women. The organization
observed that the lyrics of the songs
impressed men as much as they did
women. Male respondents welcomed the
entry of women in professions that were
hitherto male domains. However, some
scenes were perceived as too clichéd and
at times condescending to those men
who did in fact support women’s rights—
for instance, the intoxicated husband
shouting at his wife, or the woman
running away from her husband and
climbing onto the truck.
Measuring success
Even though only 25,000 CDs and
cassettes were sold—a smaller number
than more commercial, mainstream
albums—Mann ke Manjeere marked
the first time that a music album on
social issues was a chart-buster. The
low number of album sales was in
fact a learning in itself, which made
professionals in the marketing and
advertising sectors realize that
social-cause albums required unique
promotional strategies, different in their
design and goals from conventional
promotional strategies. Despite the
low number of sales, the success of
the music video of the title track was
unprecedented. It became a cult-classic,
being nominated for several awards.
However, the marketing team at Virgin
did note that “it was a niche album…
for an intellectual crowd…that did not
cross audiences”. It appealed to a more
serious music-loving section of society,
which was reflected in the low number
of sales. They put forth the perspective
that while the production of the album
was excellent, it lacked commercial
appeal since it was not considered
mainstream enough.
RESULTS
18
3.3
Lessons Learned
and Way Forward
Mann ke Manjeere was the beginning
to many things that needed to be
done. It was the first initiative in India
to strategically use cutting-edge
multimedia tools to transform violence
against women. While it proved its
efficacy as a tool to influence societal
attitudes and behavior towards women
and girls, it also laid the groundwork
for Breakthrough’s cutting edge
campaigns—What Kind of Man Are
You?, Is this Justice?, and Bell Bajao!—
to end the twin pandemics of domestic
violence and the feminization of HIV/
AIDS by speaking to the conscience
of every Indian to interrupt any act of
violence that he or she witnesses.
There was the recognition that
sustenance of a public dialogue on
domestic violence and large-scale
efforts to promote women’s human
rights required the establishment
of a long-term initiative. To Dutt
and others involved in the Mann
ke Manjeere initiative, it was clear
that the impact of the album and
videos had to be consolidated and
the messages reinforced through
diverse strategies such as promotional
campaigns, similar productions,
educational interventions, social
mobilization and capacity building
workshops. It was in this context
that Dutt founded Breakthrough—
envisioning it as a human rights
organization that used the power of
the mass media, the entertainment
industry and popular culture to reach
out to a cross-section of society and
influence attitudes and behavior on
the issues of gender equality, social
justice and human rights. This led to
the decision to train young people
to become rights’ advocates in their
families and communities, which set
off a multiplier effect, changing the
lives of over two million people. As a
19
result, the changes in perceptions that
the media campaigns initiated were
deepened, sustained and translated
into practice. Breakthrough achieved
a 49% increase in awareness among
Indians about the Protection of Women
Against Domestic Violence Act, and a
15% increase in access to services for
battered women. In this context, an
integrated 360-degree campaign titled
Bell Bajao was formulated to embolden
the average citizen, men and boys in
particular, to stop domestic violence by
ringing the doorbell of homes where
they heard abuse.
Mann ke Manjeere was a good
example of what can be achieved
when men and women work shoulder
to shoulder to promote gender
equality. The team comprised a good
mix of men and women from diverse
backgrounds. The involvement of men
in the campaigns and engagement
with wider male audiences in efforts
to advance women’s rights was an
important learning that came out of
this initiative. It led Breakthrough to
foreground men’s participation in the
design and goals of its subsequent
campaigns. Men and boys were invited
by Breakthrough to become its primary
partners in ending the cycle of violence
against women and girls.
The success of the Mann ke Manjeere
video was a lesson in itself. It proved that
it is possible to bring alternate voices and
images into the popular mainstream
and initiate public dialogues on sensitive
human rights issues. In addition, the
extraordinary visuals, the powerful voice
and lyrics, the vibrant music, and the
inspiring message, synchronized to make
it an exemplary production—setting an
example for future music videos that
sought to communicate a social message.
Steering clear of preachy, sermonizing,
and anti-men messages, this musical
initiative was a unique blend of beauty,
melancholy, courage, justice, and
equality. It invited audiences to listen
with their hearts, to introspect, and to
imagine a future where women and
men could work shoulder to shoulder to
build a society where equality, justice,
peace, and happiness are a lived reality
for all.
To conclude in the words of Prasoon
Joshi, from the title track…
My mind has begun to play its own rhythm today
My feet, once stilled, are dancing today
A drumbeat pulsates through my being
Awakening the music in my soul
20
RESULTS
20
List of References
*http://www.domesticviolences.com/domestic-violence-statistics/
1http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/idINIndia-57704120110615
2 http://www.swayam.info/swayam_gi_leaflet_31mar.pdf
3http://www.landesa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/RDI_Report_WJF_Womens_Inheritance_Six_South_Asian_Countries_December_2009.pdf
4http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13264301
5 The data on female employment participation in the economy and enrolment in higher education is from the 2011 NSSO data. The NSSO website can
be accessed or this CSDS paper: http://www.cwds.ac.in/OCPaper/OcasionalPaper_56.pdf
21
Partners
E-1 A, First Floor, Kailash Colony, New Delhi 110048, India
91-11-41666101
91-11-41666107
[email protected]
www.inbreakthrough.tv
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@INBreakthrough
22

Mann ke Manjeere

Transcription

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