FCB India and Elegant Steel celebrates the steel within Indian women ahead of Durga Puja
As India readies itself to immerse in the grand annual five-day celebration of Durga Puja which pays homage to the goddess Maa Durga, Elegant Steel and FCB India mark the festivities with the launch of their new film – Narishakti – The Steel Within.
The conversation around why India treats its women so poorly is not new. They are either cast as goddesses or objects of desire, but rarely as Human. So the irony of celebrating Nari Shakti and female power for the nine days of Navratri is very stark.
Because for the rest of the year, we get busy dis-empowering her. It serves the popular narrative to keep women “in their place”. It maintains status quo, it keeps the men feeling powerful and important as they feel entitled to. It keeps the women who fall for that narrative also safe in the knowledge that they never really have to test their wings, never have to give up the safety of status quo, not realizing it’s a cage.
The campaign shows how this narrative is maintained is through words. Cruel words, words aimed to put you in boxes, words to shame, words to make sure you never ever discover your true power within.
When even one woman, refuses to succumb to this narrative, the swords and the pitchforks come out. Because you see, one woman freeing herself from the narrative, can inspire millions to break free, refuse to be cowed down and write their own story.
In the campaign Elegant Steel celebrates ‘That’ woman.
Swati Bhattacharya, Creative Chairperson, FCB India, said: “This work is brave because many brands are aware of how social media tries to objectify and classify women… But nobody has spoken about it. Elegant steel asks us to celebrate the steel in us and continue to be the woman we want to be even if it rattles some people.”
Swati Agarwal, Chairperson, Elegant Steel, said: “As one of India’s leading steel brand, our values have always stood for quality, strength and resilience and this Durga Puja we wanted to celebrate these exact same values we see in every woman who has gone through the fires of being judged and tested and has emerged stronger.”
Bhattacharya said: “Today is Ashtami. As the worship of the female force and form #NariShakti reaches a frenzy in our country, it’s probably the best time to remember how we treat women for the rest of the year. Easy to fault. So easy to malign and resent. Constantly judged and questioned when it comes to the choices they make, or held responsible for the choices men make. And yet, they power on. #steelwithin.”
Credits
Campaign Elements: Digital Film
Client: SPS Steel Rolling Mills Ltd.- Elegant Steel
Creative Agency: FCB India
Client Team : Swati Agarwal, Tanesha Agarwal, Ankit Mittal
Creative Team: Swati Bhattacharya, Anusheela Saha, Manjeet Singh, Moumita Pal, Vinnie Verma, Payal Sharma, Abhishek Rajan, Nida Khan
Account Management: Debarpita Banerjee, Sharad Phalgun, Akshay Sharma, Nainaa Srivastava, Vishakha Khattri, Vaidehi Tandon, Sahiba Singh
Planning : Kizie Basu, Aniruddh Subramanian, Anant Das
Director (of the TVC): Pritha Chakraborty
Exécutive Producer: Mahima Sharma
Production House: Basta Films LLP
Post production Studio: Basta Films LLP
