The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A sure-footed campaign against tuberculosis

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A sure-footed campaign against tuberculosis

Ramya Kannan

Suriya, teaming up with Reach, a Chennai-based NGO, is hoping do what Rajnikanth did for polio eradication

Actor Suriya

CHENNAI: Ever since Rajinikanth lent himself to the mid-80s ad campaign to eradicate polio to an astounding response, it has been clear in Tamil Nadu that star power can truly swing a cause.

Nearly two decades later when a younger star, Suriya, talks about joining the battle against Tuberculosis with Reach, he is still referring to Rajnikanth’s sleight of hand that brought mothers, with children in tow, to pulse polio booths. “I still remember his work for pulse polio. It still evokes total recall.”

For a star who is seen as frequently on television as he is on screen, thanks to the brand endorsements, Suriya is sure he can make a difference. “The brands I work for think I can make an impact in the market. I think I can make the same impact with a social cause.”

Personal experience

But then, why TB? Suriya has a number of reasons. “Right from childhood, I’ve seen relatives being affected by it. My driver, who was very close to me, had TB. I still remember the tears in his eyes when my family did not want him to be around.” The driver, incidentally, became part of the first campaign film for Reach, a Chennai-based non-governmental organisation creating awareness of TB and its treatment.

“For long I believed that TB would affect a certain group of people—rickshaw pullers, autorickshaw drivers and children. Then, a senior technician in a film I was working in went through this and was badly affected.” Further, a friend’s mother, young and high up on the corporate ladder, too, succumbed to TB. “That’s when it struck me that even people in ‘high society’ can get TB, despite having different lifestyles.”

Then, there are the facts: tuberculosis claims at least 1,000 lives every day in India; the patient must undergo the DOTS regimen (treatment) for the prescribed six months and stopping it in between can prove fatal to the patient.

For Suriya, meeting with Nalini Krishnan, director-projects, Reach, was the next stage. Bursting to do something, he found the right platform in Reach.

The first commercial, in which the driver’s story was narrated, proved a success. “I got great feedback. It was supposed to be shown in Tamil Nadu only but they liked the film so much that they dubbed it into other languages, through the Central Government.” What was even better was when kids, given information about TB, would say, “Suriya was saying this. I saw it on TV.”

Considerable stigma

Dr. Krishnan agrees: “Television is great. We get a lot of calls immediately after such an ad is out.”

The experience of its first ad has taught Reach that. While it also uses other means of communication, including pamphlets, there is no denying the huge impact television has. The stigma is still considerable, Dr. Krishnan adds. In fact, while shooting the latest shot, actors opted out when they heard it was an ad for TB.

Tough time

Suriya, who conceptualised the ad, attests to this. “We wanted people from all walks of life to appear on the ad and had a tough time getting actors who were willing to appear in a TB ad. If this is the case in the cities, imagine how it might be in the villages.”

The 30-second ad, inspired by Michael Jackson’s “Black or White,” is out on Vijay TV, which is allotting 8-10 slots every week. Some of them are on prime time, while the others play on the afternoon band. This is part of the corporate social responsibility activities of the channel, says R. Balachandran, Vijay TV’s vice president (planning and marketing). Television will provide a wide reach, he believes.

This quite serves Suriya’s purpose of reaching out to all: “Everybody counts. Everyone is involved. And everyone has to be aware.”

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