Mukul Madhav Foundation and the CSR arm of Finolex Industries have been working for the welfare of society for a long time.
Focusing on the nuanced problems that the underprivileged strata of society face, both organisations have a grassroots understanding of the conditions that the marginalised sections live in. They work closely with women, children and the elderly to uplift them towards a better life and have formed a close rapport with them.
This Children’s Day, Mukul Madhav Foundation and Finolex Industries came together to highlight the perils of child labour and the distress such children face. Encapsulating their message in a short film, titled “Baitullah”, they portray this issue through the eyes of a young child employed at a tea stall. Our young protagonist Baitullah is played by Om Kanojiya and is supported by an equally talented cast, Ishtiyak Khan and Vipin Sharma.
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Baitullah does a brilliant job of getting its message across. As an audience, we are stunned into silence by the raw nature of the film, and it is a sensible artistic choice to not whitewash such a grave issue.
Ritu Chhabria the managing trustee of Mukul Madhav Foundation describes the message of Baitullah, "This film asks the question that we had tackled at the beginning of our journey and is actually the one that inspired us to start working with the marginalised and vulnerable children. With Baitullah, we ask our audience the same question, “How could each child enjoy the things we take for granted in our lives?”. We have set out to put things in place, one small block at a time."
Director Jitendra Rai developed the storyline for Baitullah and was inspired by his personal sense of helplessness that he felt when observing the plight of child labourers around him. He says, “Child labour is so widespread in our society, and as an individual, I feel helpless in my capacity to combat it. But as a filmmaker, I have the power to reach so many and I chose to capture this helplessness through my work, to give voice to the silent appeal these children have in their eyes when they look at people better off than them."
We all might have a different answer to the question but what counts is if we work on converting our answers into actions and help children escape child labour and enjoy their days of childhood.
Baitullah is available on Finolex Pipes’ YouTube Channel. Watch:
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