India’s ace photographers Colston Julian, Atul Kasbekar, Prasad Naik, Jaideep Oberoi, Tarun Vishwa, and Tejal Patni work towards helping educate the girl child.
Recently, Project Nanhi Kali returned with the seventh season of Proud Fathers for Daughters after two challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the seventh year, which also turned out to be the most successful year. Over the last six seasons, the fundraiser event has helped educate over 2,500 underprivileged young girls in India. Parents have made it a tradition every year to be part of this initiative, where they document images with their daughters.
At the event, photography went beyond just creating images. Wide smiles, warm hugs and quiet moments exchanged were all captured in print, preserving a moment in time between fathers and their daughters forever, one story at a time.
Colston Julian commented on the same, saying, “We shot the most endearing photographs this year. I have always been a person who works a lot in colours, depicting different emotions. But for this particular project, we decided to go with black and white photography as we wanted to translate the deepest emotions shared between a father and a daughter. The responses have been overwhelming, and I feel privileged to have worked for them. We have raised funds to help educate over 358 of our Nanhi Kalis.”
This initiative contributes to a more significant national cause of changing the mindset and correcting attitudinal biases against girls in India.
Colston added, “Education and empowerment of the girl child are the pillars that can lead to and drive a positive change in society. To have a transformative effect and diminish the discrimination towards girl children in a patriarchal society, Proud Fathers For Daughters celebrates the bond between fathers and daughters.”
Some prominent celebrities supporting the cause include Mrunal Thakur, Suneil Shetty, Vidya Balan, Abhishek Bachchan, Esha Gupta, Pooja Hegde, and Boney Kapoor, as well as sportsmen Suresh Raina and Mahesh Bhupathi.
Other well-known celebrity father-daughter duos who supported this initiative in the preceding editions have been Shatrughan Sinha and Sonakshi Sinha, Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Ridhima Kapoor, Javed Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar, Sachin Tendulkar and Sara Tendulkar, Leander Paes and Aiyana Paes, Arjun Rampal and daughters Myra and Mahikaa, as well as Alyque Padamsee and daughters Raell and Shazahn Padamsee.