A look at the Fortis ad netizens are discussing...

We spoke to Puneet Prakash and Jasrita Dhir about the effort.

A middle aged lady refusing to meet a young girl selected by her son may be the most clichéd plot of any Hindi movie or ad. However, that is not quite the case in the new Fortis ad that promises a twist that is meant to make your heart jump into your mouth, unless of course if you have a heart of stone.

Fortis Hospital's new ad titled - 'From his heart to Hers'The ad, which aims to create awareness about organ donation, is surprisingly not focused on the organ donor. In fact, the three-minute plus long digital film addresses the psychological dilemma that loved ones go through when someone near and dear donates his/her organ/s. We spoke to Jasrita Dhir, head, brand and marketing, Fortis Healthcare, who tells us that when it comes to organ donation, India has an 'opt-in' system as opposed to some western countries, such as Spain and Brazil that have an 'opt-out' system.

Jasrita Dhir

Puneet PrakashShe elaborates, "In an 'opt-out' system, every brain dead patient's organs are harvested by default and if the family doesn't want it, then they 'opt-out'. In an 'opt-in' system, family's consent is supreme when it comes to the decision of donating their loved ones' organs. Family's resistance due to lack of awareness or not being sensitised enough is one of the biggest hurdles. Psychological barriers plaguing the family's mind are fear of mutilation of the body or the fear that the hospital will not work hard enough to save the life of a patient who has donated his/her organs. We conduct a lot of awareness building workshops to dispel such myths."

The ad film has been directed and conceptualised by Puneet Prakash, director, Color Features of India, who tells us that he had been toying with the idea for long. "I discussed it with my writer Puneet Sharma and he wrote a beautiful script. Once we had the script, we decided to approach someone who was not only interested in it but also believed in the cause as much as we did. After we did our research, we zeroed in on Fortis Healthcare who was already working on this issue with their 'More To Give' campaign. I made a cold call to the corporate office and was directed to Jasrita Dhir who was equally passionate about the issue", adds Prakash.

Speaking about the toughest part while crafting this ad, Prakash tells us, "The toughest part, honestly, was casting the right actors and as a director making sure that we never get into a space where we are forcing the audience to think about what's happening. We wanted the flow to be very organic and natural. We had decided to use the camera just as the means to capture the moment and not to force emotions. Our director of photography, Manoj Kumar Khatoi did a fabulous job, he made sure that the camerawork is never noticed while capturing the emotional moment."

The ad features renowned television and film actors. Prakash shares with us, "They readily agreed to do this film, and in fact, they were willing to work around our needs because they all believed in the cause. We faced difficulties while casting, we auditioned many faces but once we finalized Shernaz (Patel) ma'am, everything else started fitting in. Shishir (Sharma) sir was perfect for the father's role and we could not have thought of anyone else as Ria but Mrunal (Thakur)."

Credit List:

Production House: Color Features of India

Producer: Mansoor Khan, Nandita Pandey

Director: Puneet Prakash

Concept: Puneet Prakash

Creative Head & Writer: Puneet Sharma

DOP: Manoj Kumar Khatoi

Music Director: Shivi R Kashyap

Production Designer: Ashok Lokre

Costume Designer: Nandita Pandey

Editor: Mukesh Thakur

Talent: Shernaz Patel, Shishir Sharma & Mrunal Thakur

A quick look at other ads released by hospitals in India:

Fortis Hospital's old ad titled - 'Be an organ donor. Be a hero'

Vasan Eye Care Hospital's ad film titled, 'Bharatnatyam'

Gleneagles Global Hospitals' ad film creating Cancer awareness

The Mission Hospital ad film crafted by Ogilvy