Binno and Goshto and Reimagining Vedanta

It opens with hills and a river. It could be anywhere, but the impenetrable green that covers the mountains suggests a locale somewhere in the Eastern Ghats. A narrator whose voice drips with the wisdom of Malgudi Days introduces us to Binno. She is somewhere between two and five years old, her face has the smile that only spunky little girls can. Her poverty is evident from her clothes and her colouring, as is her tribal identity. The joy of childhood, her very existence in fact is a miracle. We meet her parents, who have lost siblings to poor infant and maternal healthcare, have never seen a school and apparently were too poor to dream. All the dreams they dare to have are for their children. Binno and her brothers – Goshto and Nandu. Goshto, a teenager has a ‘chotta sa khilona jo bijli se chalta,’ while his parents had never known the spectacle of an electric bulb. Binno can smile and she can dream. There are figures at the bottom indicating exactly how many people ‘happiness’ has been created for. The ad is beautifully shot, the music and voice over hit the right note. There is a story told in one and a half minutes and it is told well. At first I thought that this was a public service announcement by the government, and for that it was impressive. The most annoying thing about promotional spots by the government is, for a want of a better word, their analogue-ness. That grainy quality that reeks of black and white televisions in mofussil towns of the 80’s. There is a pedantic depersonalised quality to them that makes one switch off or change the channel immediately. This ad talks down to people as well. There is a paternalism that was gratifyingly personalised. Towards the end of the piece one discovers that it is not in fact a government announcement. Or even one from and NGO or an aid organisation. This was an ad for Vedanta’s corporate social responsibility spree. Actually, it’s not quite an ad. It is the most aggressive attempt at classical conditioning from a company whose brand recognition has been closely connected to its questionable practices in precisely the kind of tribal areas where this ad claims it is ‘creating happiness.’ Vedanta is attempting to fashion its brand not as the mining concern that it is, but rather as a benevolent missionary organisation with a social conscience that puts Mother Teresa to shame. The paternalism that seemed acceptable and the artistry that was impressive when I thought this was a government announcement became irksome. Perhaps this indicates an incipient prejudice against the philanthropy of big business. It is however worth asking why a multi-million dollar mining and energy company would go on a publicity spree about its work in modernising and providing facilities for what appear to be tribal poor. If the answer to the question is obvious, then so is the danger of this campaign.