Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo campaign unites the City of Joy

Started a decade ago, Berger Paints’ Priyo Pujo is a festive-special campaign which felicitates the Top 10 Durga Pujo across West Bengal. Holding onto its uniqueness, it is the only Pujo felicitation contest which is judged by the people themselves. With every passing year, the campaign has expanded, both in terms of its geographical presence as well as its girth of activities. Priyo Pujo felicitates pujos across categories like – Barowari Pujo, Apartment Pujo and District Pujo. The tenth-year anniversary marked the inception of Dhunuchi Naach Contest and Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo along with the continuation of Alpona Contest, post its inception in 2021.The brand hosted a pool of engaging activities and was greeted with typical Bengali enthusiasm & fever in the participation of these range of activities.

Berger Priyo Pujo has been formed by taking cues from the age-old culture and rituals of Bengal and fusing them to create larger-than-life activities. On tenth-year anniversary, Berger Paints added a couple of fun-filled as well as heart-warming activities to its festive itinerary. What initially started off as a casual conversation within a group of painters at a pujo pandal, ended up in the conceptualization of a brand-new initiative – Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo. The basic idea behind the initiative was to foster inclusivity.

Back in 2021, Berger Paints came across a couple of painters in a Durga Pujo pandal and got to know that owing to the work pressure during pujo, a lot of the painters couldn’t make it to their families during pujo . From that conversation, stemmed the idea of “Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo” which got primarily actioned this year. Though both last year and this year, the brand had distributed sweets and gifts amongst the painters, this year a new wing got added to the initiative where they visited old age homes and orphanages and attempted to add value to their celebrations by painting the spaces in vibrant hues to suit the festive fervour. Through Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo the brand aims to spread awareness about that section of the society which hardly takes part in the mainstream celebrations and thereby highlight this isolation amongst the masses to contribute and help to enhance their lives.

“Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo” was ideated to attempt inclusivity amongst sections of society. While Durga Pujo might seem to be synonymous to shopping, fun, social gatherings etc. but for some, those five days are no different in comparison to the rest of their days. Living within the four walls of an old-age home or an orphanage, these alluring hearts often forget the festivals of the outer world. Therefore in order to add some colour to their festivities, Berger Paints visited a couple of old-age homes and orphanages in Kolkata. They visited Apanjan, Anandaghar and Debangan and surprised the residents there. While all the three Kolkata-based institutions house elderly citizens, Anandaghar also houses children. Berger Paints painted the walls in bright hues and restored the lost charm of the place and gave it a festive-ready look. They didn’t just amp up the space to add to the festive fervour, but also surprised the residents with gifts, especially curated for the auspicious occasion of Durga Pujo.

Speaking about the campaign”, Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO of Berger Paints India Limited said, “While we were brainstorming for this year’s festive special campaign, our main focus was on how we could make it a ‘Subho Sharodiya’ for everyone. As a brand, Berger Paints has always fostered inclusivity and that is what became our core messaging behind this year’s festive-special campaign “Bhinno Chokhe Onno Pujo”. As titled, the campaign focusses on how Durga Pujo as a festival appears to be starkly different when viewed from the perspective of the elderly residing in old-age homes or children in orphanages. With the sole attempt to lessen the gap and bring them closer to the festivities, we decided to visit old-age homes and orphanages in and around Kolkata and amp up the space with bright hues to compliment the festive season. While we worked to ensure that we transform our ideas into reality, the response we received from our visit to the boarding homes touched the deepest core of our hearts and feel that every organization in Kolkata should take steps to enhance the quality of life of these isolated members of our society.”