Fair play
Recently, UNICEF India unveiled the Fair Start film as part of a (social) media campaign that will focus on inequality faced by large groups of children in India, thus affecting their survival, growth and development. A series of impactful films will offer an insight into the lives of millions of such kids across backgrounds, who display talent and potential but are less likely to grow up healthy and safe, to attend school, to learn, and more likely to be married off young. The campaign draws attention to the lives of many such kids deprived of their rights, often spurred by their circumstance. The series was produced with the participation of a group of children who brought their daily reality to the film set. The crew included cameraman Sahil, a 14-year-old music and sports enthusiast. His father passed away three years back, and he currently assists his uncle at a laundry. Art director Suraj is a 10-year-old whose father is an alcoholic while 15-year-old cameraman Shawn has six siblings. Since his father left home and mother keeps unwell, he took the responsibility to run his family by cleaning gutters, among other degrading tasks. Salaam to these real-life heroes.

Chief Advocacy and Communication, Unicef India, Caroline d en Dulk (centre), poses with members of the crew of #FairStart campaign