Dream merchants reel out health-conscious scripts

MUMBAI: Forget about ''A'' and ''U/A'' certificates for a film. In the age of the AIDS epidemic, distinction could be all about acquiring a UN certification.
''Phir Milenge'', a Hindi film with AIDS as its central theme, is now checking out the box-office worth of its UN approval (read United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS). The film was released on Friday.
Last week, UNAIDS had lauded the film, stating that it was "significant that Bollywood is joining the struggle against the epidemic and helping to break the silence that surrounds HIV and AIDS".
"The UN recommendation will spur thinking people, even those who don''t usually watch Hindi films, to turn up," says the film''s director Revathy Menon.
Experts believe that embedded health messages in films and television serials—much like embedded journalism during the Gulf war—are here to stay.
Salman Khan plays an AIDS-afflicted person in ''Phir Milenge'' while dusky actress Nandita Sen was an HIV-positive volunteer in ''Ek Alag Mausam'', a film funded by non-governmental organisation ActionAid.
On the small screen, Tony from the ''The Bold And The Beautiful'' is grappling with his sero-positive status. In fact, Hollywood actor Richard Gere, on his recent visit to Mumbai, had underlined the need to embed HIV/AIDS awareness messages in the mass media.
While the battle against the AIDS/HIV epidemic is flush with donor funds and high-profile activists like Gere, other health issues too are being debated within fictional formats.
Tulsi, from the popular soap ''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'', recently doled out the virtues of oral rehydration solution (ORS) while Dr Simran from ''Astitva'' went ballistic when a patient asked for the controversial hormone replacement therapy in order to look young.
"Health messages do make an impact," believes Akhila Shivdas of theDelhi-based CFAR, an organisation that studies media trends. "In the time of the information boom, people want to discuss every issue threadbare."
However, pontification should be strictly kept at arm''s length, says Sutapa Sikdar, writer of the popular serials ''Tara'' and ''Banegi Apni Baat'' as well as a telefilm on leprosy, ''Alvida''.
"I believe we should use air time tomake a point, but subtlety is the key," she says. And the dreammerchants seem to have caught on. So, ''Astitva'', a serial with a doctor protagonist, took viewers through the entire debate on sex selection by weaving it into the storyline.
"We didn''t discuss the related issues of abortion or the woman''s right to choose in overt terms," says producer Ajai Sinha.
Revathy, too, says that she made a conscious effort to not deliver sermons on safe sex. Pointing out that the film is about the stigma attached to AIDS/HIV, she says, "After a hard day''s work, people want entertainment, not pontification."
And, yes, star ratings do help. Says ad executive Aparna Thomas, who worked on integrating the ORS campaign into teleserials, "The ORS campaign was publicised through posters at doctors'' clinics, but Tulsi holding forth on the importance of administering the solution to a child suffering from diarrhoea had a huge impact on the target audience."
Concurs doctor-turned-actor Anuj Saxena, "Health messages in films or TV serials are nothing but celebrity endorsements. People sit up and listen when a well-known actor is making a point."
Indeed, but do these messages work? Not always, admits Shivdas. "It depends on the individual''s frame of reference."