Rise Up with Nanhi Kali this National Girl Child Day

Project Nanhi Kali and the Mahindra Group together are celebrating this National Girl Child Day with the launch of “Rise Up – Anthem for the Girl Child” to celebrate unconventional career choices of women. This anthem is an unconventional rap mix, through a first-time collaboration between Deepa Unnikrishnan, aka Dee MC, who is regarded as one of India’s finest female rappers (writer and vocalist), and Simi Talsania, an upcoming female dancer in the hip-hop space in the country. The anthem has gone live today across all digital channels of Project Nanhi Kali and Mahindra Rise and will be reinforced through the social media pages of the two artistes.

“Project Nanhi Kali has consistently communicated that education is the only tool which enables girls to rise from a life of poverty and go on to live a life of dignity. Our campaign #LadkiHaathSeNikalJaayegi, referred to the patriarchal attitudes towards girls which discouraged them from getting educated, but gave a positive spin to the phrase, by linking their education to achieving their aspirations, to become self-reliant and independent women. Our TAG (Teen Age Girls) Report launched recently infact revealed that 74 percent girls wish to work after their studies, and have a specific career in mind. The Rise Up anthem will definitely open up the minds of girls and encourage them to be fearless in making unconventional career choices,” said Sheetal Mehta, Senior Vice President – CSR, Mahindra Group, and Executive Director, K.C. Mahindra Education Trust.

Commenting on the purpose and genesis of the anthem, Vivek Nayer, Chief Marketing Officer, Group Corporate Brand, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said,“Mahindra is a socially responsible and trusted brand, and with the Rise for Good initiatives, we not only want to do good in the community, but also aim to inspire others to drive societal change. #LadkiHaathSeNikalJayegi was one such campaign which provided a positive perspective on an age-old and negative mindset. Expanding the mindset beyond girl child education and helping them envision their preferred, potentially unconventional career choices was the logical succession to the campaign. Today, on National Girl Child Day, we are thrilled to be launching the ‘Rise Up’ anthem, and there could be no better role models than Dee MC – a rapper, and Simi – a dancer in the hip-hop genre, to help us tell this story differently.”

Deepa Unnikrishnan aka Dee MC is a 24 year old rapper from Mumbai who’s one of the front-runners of the growing hip hop community. She started her journey in 2012, and one of her popular tracks – “No More Limits” with over 2 million views. Deepa is also the Editor-in-Chief of South Asia’s leading hip hop news website DesiHipHop.com and is slated for a Bollywood debut in the upcoming movie “Gully Boy”. Simi Talsania is one of the upcoming female dancers in India has choreographed the dance, also featured in the video. She was part of the reality show and crew of Dance Plus 3; she has also been a part of AR Rahman’s concert crew.