MUMBAI: Google, along with Farhan Akhtar’s MARD, has launched a new social campaign called #ReachForTheSky. As a part of the campaign, Akhtar’s band- Farhan Akhtar Live composed an anthem – ‘Chulein Aasmaan’, which was released on 23 September. The song talks about women empowerment and emancipation.
Explaining the song, Akhtar said, “It is a song about freeing women from the roles that they have been coerced into playing for centuries. It highlights the importance of equal opportunity, possibilities and the impact it can have on women.”
The song was co-composed by Bollywood duo Salim-Sulaiman, while Shraddha Pandit wrote the lyrics. The song is also supported with a music video, which has been launched on digital platforms including YouTube. The campaign- ‘Helping Women Get Online’ is completely digitised and has three focal points- Greater Focus on Rural Initiatives, Focus on Enabling Access, and Internet users as Champions for the cause.
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Akhtar commented, “Democratising access to information can empower women in our country and raise their status in our society. Through the song, we want to reach out to them and capture the spirit of our campaign.”
CEO – Canvas Talent & Director, A&R for MARD, Anurag Rao said, “MARD will work with content makers around the world in a pledge to engage hearts and minds through art and music. Also, having someone like Farhan Akhtar represent a great cause helps in bringing more people to participate in the cause.”
Rao, who is also a part of Farhan Akhtar Live added, “Music is the best form of art to share with people, to reach out to them and to put across our message. It induces a sense of inclusion and intrigue. When people listen to the anthem or watch the music video, they will become aware of the initiative. It is probably the easiest way to get them to participate.”
Akhtar expressed gratitude to Salim, Sulaiman and Pandit for being a part of the project. When asked if they would go on tour to propagate the campaign by singing the song live in various cities, Salim quipped, “That is not on the charts but there are high chances of us gate-crashing each other’s performances to do an impromptu performance of the song.”
Rao also revealed that the band will be going on tour in mid-October and December in the country. Besides, they will also do an international tour late next year.
Google India VP and MD, Rajan Anandan said about the project, “We want to work towards the gender disparity that is prevalent in India. Until last year, out of 200 million internet users, only 30 per cent users were women. If we can help in raising the numbers of women using the internet for information and becoming more self reliant, it could transform India’s future.”
The initiative was started by Google in 2013 and for the first time in India, the growth rate of women internet users in urban India exceeded men in less than a year. As of now, the growth rate of female internet users is 35 per cent.
