Zee Bangla attempts to undo a social knot facing Bengali mothers

Zee Bangla has always celebrated womanhood in its myriad shades, inspiring viewers to script their life in a new rhythm. In the slew of Mother’s Day ads that paid tribute to caring and sacrificing moms, Zee Bangla’s film took a differentiated stance.  

Staying true to its brand ideology, Zee Bangla took a thought-provoking step to question an age-old custom that is still prevalent in Bengali wedding rituals. That of a mother not being allowed to attend the marriage ceremony of her son, because it is considered a ‘bad omen’.
The ad film, has been conceptualised by L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, directed by Pritha Chakraborty and executed by ZEE Bangla in-house production. It opens in the groom’s house, where the girl’s parents have gone across with a wedding card to ‘officially invite’ the groom’s family. Amid the feasting and chatter and light banter, the girl’s mother prompts her husband to hand over the invite. While everyone admires the beautiful card, she hands over another small letter on behalf of the bride Aheli, to her to-be mother-in-law. 

When the mother-in-law reads it, she is overcome with emotion because Aheli in her letter insists that she attend the wedding, saying ‘You’ve been by Ayan’s side through all his successes in life. Now, if you are not there for our wedding, how will it be successful?’ 

As the son now looks on with a knowing smile, one realises that he and Aheli have planned this act together. The film ends with a call to action from Zee Bangla asking viewers to shed the old this Mother’s Day and celebrate every mother's life in a new, different rhythm. 

Commenting on the thought process behind the ad campaign, Client Spokesperson, Samrat Ghosh, Chief Cluster Officer- East said: At Zee Bangla, ‘scripting life in a new rhythm’ has been the core to our brand and to all our shows and programming. On Mother’s Day, we decided to walk the talk and create a thought-provoking piece of communication that unties a regressive social knot that prevents Bengali mothers from attending their son’s wedding ceremony. Adding back to the brand’s belief this campaign builds a new way of looking at the true spirit of motherhood to imbibe a sense of compassion by breaking our inhibition. We believe this campaign will manifest our brand belief ‘Notun Chande Likhbo Jibon’ and strengthens further. We are delighted to see that the film has already had a positive impact with our audiences. 

Highlighting his views on the campaign, Rohit Malkani, Joint NCD, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi said: This is the second year in a row that we have dug deep into our reservoir to pull out a cultural truth for Mother’s Day. And early feedback shows we are creating ripples yet again. Kudos to Zee Bangla for backing us on a brave idea and truly ‘scripting life in a new rhythm’ this Mother’s Day.