Tata Trusts’ ‘Vajood Rahe Maujood’ — Dementia Film Puts Identity Before Forgetfulness
Tata Trusts’ dementia campaign follows a mother and son — Geeta Agarwal Sharma and Priyanshu Painyuli — to show how early signs get dismissed as ageing while identity quietly erodes
Mumbai, September 2026: Tata Trusts has launched ‘Vajood Rahe Maujood’, a dementia-awareness film that treats the condition as more than memory loss. The story tracks a mother showing early signs and her son as primary caregiver, played by Geeta Agarwal Sharma and Priyanshu Painyuli, and puts identity, roles and everyday ability at the centre of the ask.
The creative line leans on a hard India insight: early dementia is often waved off as normal ageing or forgetfulness. The film pushes families to notice small shifts in relationships and routine before clinics do — and uses a male caregiver to nudge more men into that role, while casting a woman protagonist because the condition hits women harder. Strategy came from Wolfzhowl; creative chief Keigan Pinto wrote and directed.
Numbers back the urgency. India is projected to have more than 347 million people aged 60+ by 2050. Release estimates say around 45% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed, and related changes can start 10–20 years before clear symptoms.
Shilpi Ghosh, head, Brand & Marketing Communications, Tata Trusts, said: “Of the various barriers that Dementia faces in India, the biggest is a lack of awareness — the misestimation, the misattribution, the dismissal.” She framed mild-symptom patients as the conscious audience for behaviour change, and identity loss as the insight that kept the work persuasive rather than preachy.
Kalyan Challapalli, founder & chief of strategy, Wolfzhowl, said qualitative research showed dementia cannot be treated as a health issue alone — its ripple hits caregivers, families, healthcare and the economy, what the agency calls ‘The Butterfly Effect’. A sharp gap: missing regional-language vocabulary for early changes, which makes dismissal easier.
Marketing take
Purpose work that sticks usually gives people language for what they already feel at home. ‘Vajood Rahe Maujood’ is less a PSA checklist and more a birthday-poem conversation — and that is how dementia awareness moves from clinic wall to family WhatsApp.
