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Godrej’s ‘Kanta Didi’ lights up Diwali with a message of acceptance
Mumbai, 16 October: This Diwali, Godrej Industries Group’s brand-agnostic owned media platform, Godrej L’affaire, continues its ‘Celebrating Acceptance’ campaign with Kanta Didi, a film that challenges everyday stereotypes and redefines what acceptance looks like today. The campaign reminds us that acceptance is not the privilege of awareness but a practice of humanity.
Set within the cosy walls of a familiar home, the story unfolds between a domestic worker and a queer couple, capturing how understanding can emerge not from ideology but from instinct. What begins as a moment of hesitation turns into a heartfelt story of empathy and inclusion.
At the heart of the film is Kanta Didi, a domestic worker who encounters a queer couple for the first time while working in their home. She meets Kapil, who is new to the neighbourhood and searching for domestic help. Assuming he lives with a woman, Kanta Didi is surprised to learn the truth. Initially hesitant, Kapil finds comfort in Kanta Didi’s warmth. When he opens up about his identity, her simple, genuine response is “Acha, boyfriend hai? Toh mereko kya?” becomes a powerful moment of acceptance. Her attitude reflects a straight-forward philosophy: live and let live.
In this exchange, Kanta Didi normalises what should have always been normal. Her openness helps Kapil feel at ease, beaming with pride and confidence. The story captures the everyday India where change does not arrive through grand gestures but through small, human moments that shift perspectives.
Kanta Didi continues the conversation from Godrej’s previous Diwali films in the ‘Celebrating Acceptance’ series, reaffirming that empathy often begins at home. If Kanta Didi can learn about queer life through daily experiences and snippets from social media: “Aapke wo pride parade mein kya mast dikhte hai sab log rainbow flag ke sath!”, then what truly makes acceptance difficult for others?
Conceptualised by Agency09, the film encourages viewers to engage in honest conversations about love, identity, and belonging, from their domestic help to family and friends. Kanta Didi’s words, “Riwaazon se rishte nahi bante, hum rishton se riwaaz banate hai,” leave a lasting impression, reminding us that relationships, not rituals, define our celebrations.
Godrej Industries Group executive director and chief brand officer Tanya Dubash, said, “At Godrej L’affaire, we have always used storytelling to spark meaningful conversations around inclusion through our ‘Celebrating Acceptance’ series. Over the past three years, these films have delved into how acceptance finds expression in everyday life. With Kanta Didi, we continue that dialogue to show that true progress is when acceptance and inclusion become second nature.”
Godrej DEI Lab head Parmesh Shahani added, “At the Godrej DEI Lab, we’ve found that visible representation and policy change often reflect norms that have already begun to shift. The ‘Celebrating Acceptance’ films capture this quiet, everyday change beautifully and celebrate the fact that we are united by far more than what divides us. Recent milestones, from the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment’s consultations on lgbtqia plus inclusion to the recognition of queer partners in key social and financial frameworks, reinforce our belief that progress happens when acceptance moves from policy to practice, and eventually, into how we live.”
Onlyn India director Raz Rehman Ali said, “What drew me to Kanta Didi was its honesty. The film doesn’t try to teach; it simply observes. Its strength lies in the authenticity of a simple exchange. When someone like Kanta reacts with such effortless acceptance, it challenges the idea that empathy belongs only to the informed. Sometimes, the most powerful stories are the ones that just let life speak for itself.”
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Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
