‘Save girl child film with Nandita Das not by govt’

Facing flak over actress Nandita Das featuring in a short film to propagate the Centre’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” campaign, the women and child development ministry on Sunday clarified that the programme was produced by an international NGO and it only tweeted the messages.

The film triggered public outrage on social media and people lashed out at Union minister Maneka Gandhi, slamming her for making Ms Das one of the ambassadors of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign.

In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Ms Das had reportedly campaigned against Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister. The short film also features Bollywood actresses Madhuri Dixit and Sushmita Sen.

“Girl Rising, an international NGO, had produced a short film to propagate the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ message. This film is by Girl Rising and not by the WCD ministry. The WCD (ministry) tweeted the messages of these actresses on ‘Beti Bachao’ as given in the film,” the ministry said in a statement. “Nandita Das has not been appointed as an ambassador of the ministry on ‘Beti Bachao’,” the statement said.

“This was an India-specific film, following a multi-national film produced by them. Girl Rising is an initiative involving film stars from across the world. The Indian film features actresses including Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen and Nandita Das,” it said.

Coming to Ms Gandhi’s defence, her son and BJP MP Varun tweeted, “Spoke to WCD minister who was completely unaware of the Nandita Das endorsement, as she has been very ill and recuperating.”