‘Right Ranga sonna righta than irukkum’ has been sounding across living rooms and proclaiming itself through banners all over the state over the past two weeks. This line is being mouthed by a cartoon character (Right Ranga) that has an undeniable resemblance to the Superstar. What is this all about? People were at a loss to understand about this hurricane campaign, which was launched on Sep16th. This is one of those ad teasers, which are a current rage. It remained a mystery until the motive behind the campaign was unraveled on the 23rd of last month. The campaign turned out to have a very serious message, contrary to what many people had initially thought.

The resemblance of the toon character to Rajini was what got the tongues in town wagging. Many people thought that this was Rajini’s signal for a political reentry. But no one came close to guessing what the exact purpose was. What is the message? Well, in the current social scenario there couldn’t have been an issue more pertinent. The campaign is an effort on the part of the AIDS Prevention and Control Society (APACS) to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS. In a state which goes into a trance whenever Rajini appears on screen, the words of this toon character resembling Rajini would definitely have more impact especially with the masses where AIDS awareness is negligible.

This campaign plans to move in stages. First they intend to alert the youngsters about the importance of abstaining from pre-marital sex. Then they plan to move up to married people and talk about sensitive issues like loyalty. Considering the touchy nature of the issue, the campaign required the backing of someone very influential. The persona of Rajini seems to fit the bill perfectly. This is not the first time that celebrities are being used to spread messages of social relevance. All of us must have seen many of the leading film stars talking to us from TV screens about polio, national integration and other issues.