Unveils a heart-warmingfilm tracing the transformation of
Jyothi, a cleft patient
Partners with Smile Train Indiato enable the first smiles of 100 cleft patients this year
Bangalore, January 28th 2016: The Himalaya Drug Company, India’s leading Herbal Health and Personal
Care Company today announced the launch of a cleft lip initiative –“Muskaan”in
association with Smile Train India, an international NGO dedicated to spreading
awareness on cleft deformities and providing free corrective surgeries for the
under-privileged.
As part of the initiative,
Himalaya Lip Care will enable a minimum of 100 cleft surgeries through Smile
Train India through the first year of this partnership. So far, 55 cleft
surgeries have already been completed. A contribution of Rs. 2 from the
purchase of every Himalaya Lip Care product will be made towards the cause. While
it’s just the beginning, Himalaya’s aim is to ensure children in need of cleft
surgeries get access to treatment at the earliest, and at a tender age when
healing is faster.
Mr Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Business
Head-Consumer Products, The Himalaya Drug Company commented on the initiative, “We
are extremely happy to associate with Smile Train India for this initiative. They
have the operational excellence and network of skilled doctors to carry out the
surgeries and have shown genuine empathy towards the cause. As a leading brand
in the Lip Care category, one of the core brand objectives for Himalaya Lip Care
is to ensure Healthy and Nourished lips for ALL. But it just doesn’t end here.
We understand lips are conduit to expression of one’s emotions and confidence,
a cleft condition hinders both. As a leading brand, we have taken this
initiative to support the patients suffering from cleft-lip and help make a
difference in their lives.”
“The treatment of
cleft is hampered more due to the economic and perception constraints thus the
need to provide access to free surgeries and spread awareness becomes more
pressing. The launch of Muskaan and association with Smile Train is aimed at
meeting these.” he further
added.
To put the issue
under the spotlight, the company has shot and unveiled a beautiful film on the
life transformation journey of Jyothifrom Darbur Village, Chikkaballapur,
Bengaluru who had been living with cleft for 14 years. The film brings alive
the emotions and aspirations of the girl born with a cleft lip and palate as
she undergoes a cleft lip surgery that gives her, her first real smile and
leaves her with the promise of a better life.
The renowned
composer Karan has crafted the music and Sona Mahapatra has lent her
soulful voice to the background score. The track has been composed by lyricist Amit
that captures this real story sublimely.
At
the event, Ms Mamtaa Carrol, Smile Train’s Vice
President and Regional Director for South Asia said, “It’s hard to imagine not being able to smile, but over ten lakh children
in India live with untreated clefts. This birth defect also impairs eating,
speaking and breathing and can lead to a life filled with shame and social
isolation for the children and their families. In the last 16 years, we have
helped provide new smiles and second chances in life to over 4,50,000 children
in India and are excited that Himalaya has joined us in this journey of
transforming lives. We are sure that the film on Jyothi will help raise
awareness about clefts and its life-impacting treatment.”
“Support from corporates like Himalaya
is a critical aspect of our work. It not only helps us continue and sustain our
work but enables us to extend it, add greater value to it and spread awareness
on a far greater scale. We look forward to a long and mutually fulfilling
partnership with Himalaya which’ll add value to both the organizations as well
as our common constituency of cleft patients.” she added.
Rahul
Bharti, Creative Director, Roadrunner – the video production house,commented
on the film, “The brief given to us
emphasised on bringing alive the difference that a simple corrective cleft
surgery can make in the life of a cleft patient. Simple things that we take for
granted like smiling to express happiness, socializing with friends and wearing
makeup to look as well as feel good, was a big challenge for this young girl
and this is something we discovered in our first meeting with Jyothi. While it
is impossible for a 3 minute film to do justice to her everyday challenges, we
have tried to capture a glimpse of her experience and aspirations.
SonaMohapatra, the singer also present at the launch event commented, “This cause is extremely close to my heart
thus singing the track was emotionally overwhelming. Everyone has a right to
smile and I would like to encourage all of you to spread awareness on this
initiative Muskaan.”
About The Himalaya Drug Company:
In 1930, a young visionary
by the name of Mr. M. Manal foresaw the benefits of herbal remedies while
riding through the forests of Burma. After diligently researching the science
of the traditional field of Ayurveda, he decided to dedicate his life creating
products that would improve millions of lives across the world. Today, with a
history spanning more than eight decades in herbal research, Himalaya has
positioned itself as a brand that cares about not only enriching people’s lives
but also the environment. With their ‘head to heel’ range of products Himalaya
aims to provide a holistic solution to everyday ailments that affect our
bodies.
Seeped in a legacy of
researching nature, Himalaya has successfully been able to harness the science
of Ayurveda through cutting-edge research to become a brand that is safe,
gentle and trustworthy.
About Smile Train
India:
Smile Train India is an international children’s
charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip
and palate. In India, over 35,000 children are born with
clefts every year and over 10 lakh children with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have
difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and
the transformation is immediate. Since the year 2000, Smile Train’s sustainable
model provides training and funding to empower local doctors and hospitals
across India to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft
care in their own communities. This ‘teach a man to fish’ strategy has enabled
Smile Train India to provide over 4,50,000 free surgeries through a network of
170 partner hospitals .To learn more about how Smile Train India’s sustainable
approach has both an immediate and long-term impact, please visit smiletrainindia.org.
