We sought to leverage the power of the documentary to educate, build awareness and ultimately, ignite change.

But to affect meaningful change within the nation’s complex judicial system, THE POLICE had to be sensitized first, as they are on the front lines of reporting such crimes. These officers come from the same society that historically hasn’t believed in equal rights for women. They are a product of their environment. So they needed to be trained to be more sensitive to victims, as only then would sex crimes be reported.

So emerged our idea for this movement to focus on the police, to gender sensitize them, and bring them to the forefront to connect with society around this critically important platform. This was achieved through screenings for the public and police officers, followed by discussion and debate.

Our training sessions educated police officers about the important role they play in ensuring that victims of sexual violence have a safe haven where they can report crimes, where they’re treated with respect and compassion.

Next, we needed to engage consumers directly, to ensure women could feel confident that their allegations would be aggressively actioned upon and their assailants vigorously pursued. To do so, we:

-Secured India’s first-ever prime-time documentary simulcast across a major entertainment network in multiple languages – a bold step for the network. This screening was timed to the three-year anniversary of the brutal gang rape around which the film centers.

-Created short film vignettes/PSAs that screened in Mumbai movie theaters over 90 days.

-Conducted strategic media relations and social media outreach.

More than 150,000 police officers screened Daughters of Mother India as part of their ongoing training – the first time in the nation’s history a documentary has been incorporated into officer instruction. Workshops and dialogue sessions followed.

The film is now mandatory for National Police Academy recruits.

Media coverage from Hindustan Times to Huffington Post cited the strategic approach as groundbreaking. (82 placements.)

Importantly, police are seeing increased willingness among women to report sexual violence – even in states like Haryana where gender ratios are most distorted and sex crimes, rampant. Early estimates show a 20% increase in reported sex crimes.

The film was simulcast on a major network during prime-time in 8 languages – also a first – reaching 10million people.

Short-form PSAs aired in theaters, reaching ~9million consumers.

Social media engagement topped 32million impressions.

What started as a documentary became a powerful vehicle for change.

And this is just the beginning.