Axis Bank has launched a heartwarming campaign that acknowledges the one language that Indians speak across borders.
Created in association with Grey Group, the film #23in23 aims to get the Indian Sign Language officially recognised as the 23rd language in 2023.
The film is set at a Republic Day event and features a guest who confesses their inability to speak and asks the audience how many people in the venue know sign language. When no hands are raised, the guest explains how sign language is used in daily life for greetings, goodbyes, and expressing emotions like Love, Anger and even when we ward off the evil eye. The guest also emphasises that sign language is used for agreements, disagreements, admiration and prayers.
At the end of the film, when the guest repeats their initial question, everyone in the venue is seen raising their hands, acknowledging the use of sign language in their daily lives.
Nishanth Ananthram, Executive Creative Director, Grey Group, shared in his LinkedIn Post, “My mother tongue is Kannada. The wonderful thing about growing up in Mangalore was that I could pick up many more languages like Tulu, two types of Konkani, the Byari language, a hint of Malayalam and a little bit of Hindi here and there. Lots of languages are spoken even in a small town from where I hail from. That’s the beauty of our country.”
“We wanted to capture this diverse linguistic culture for our campaign for Axis Bank when we discovered that there is one language that’s commonly spoken in all places in India – The Indian Sign Language,” Ananthram added.
Watch the film here: