Watch: Swachh Bharat ad tells (Hindu) Indians how the goddess will desert them for littering
Except, of course, the goddess is played by a famous Bollywood actor.
The Narendra Modi administration thinks the Swachh Bharat slogan – which powers the "mother of all missions" to clean India – hasn't quite convinced people to do their bit. Enter Bollywood, as usual.
And so we have an ad (video above) with Kangana Ranaut playing the Hindu goddess Lakshmi and, inevitably, Amitabh Bachchan, complete with the share-me-now hashtag #DontLetHerGo.
But the communication? It's strange, to say the least.
It seems the real motivation for not littering is not that it will lead to a clean, healthy environment, but that it will keep the goddess of wealth from deserting. It's unusual – but perhaps no longer unexpected – for government advertising to have a Hindu slant, but that's just what this commercial does.
Of course, it's one way to address a large number of people, but it does leave out large parts of the country's population, even if the language of Lakshmi is just a way of getting the message across. Still, you have to wonder why a clean India isn't a strong enough motivator in its own right, and needs to be propped up by the lure of affluence, and that too with such overt religious symbolism.
Also featuring, among others, Isha Koppikar, the ad has been made by Pradeep Sarkar, of Parineeta and Mardani fame.
