Star Plus will show Academy Award nominee Richard E. Robbin’s Girl Rising – Woh Padhegi, Woh Udegi [she will learn, she will fly] on August 29 to mark the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, which celebrates the brother-sister bond.
The 2013 two-hour film narrates the stories of eight girls from Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nepal, Peru and Sierra Leone, and their fight to realise their dreams. The Hindi version features leading Bollywood actresses such as Priyanka Chopra, Freida Pinto, Nandita Das, Madhuri Dixit, Sushmita Sen, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra and Kareena Kapoor, with the narration by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. Both Chopra and Pinto are ambassadors for Girl Rising, a campaign in India for girls’ education and empowerment. They are also producers of the film, which Chopra says has the support of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save the daughter, educate the daughter) campaign.
“Woh Padegi, Woh Udegi… it’s what I’ve truly believed in and it’s a motto shared by every one of the amazing women who have joined me on this journey for Girl Rising. We’ve all come together to narrate real-life stories that highlight the amazing, positive impact that education can have on young girls. We believe that storytelling is a powerful way to inspire people and also to empower them to take action,” Chopra said in a press statement.
The channel’s screening of the film on a festival that celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters — the suggestion came from Modi, Pinto says — aims to raise awareness and eliminate gender disparity,
“There couldn’t be a more appropriate day to bring to every Indian a movement that is so crucial in changing the way we perceive the role of girls and raise our boys in our country,” said Pinto in the statement.
The film can also be seen in Hindi and English on hotstar, Star India’s digital platform, at 1.30pm. For more information on the campaign log on to girlrising.in