A woman screams. A man hears and walks over to the house to investigate. He rings the bell giving the excuse of wanting to use the telephone. In the next episode, a second man shows up, again ringing the bell, to ask for a cup of milk.

Then in the third, comes a man accompanied by a group of young teenagers from the neighbourhood wanting to retrieve a lost ball.  The three brief episodes comprise Season One, part of the Bell Bajao! (ring the bell) ad campaign against domestic violence.
Made for Breakthrough, a New York-based NGO also working in India, the Bell Bajao! campaign is a one-minute series of films tackling the problem of domestic violence from the man’s angle: both as the perpetrator and the one who threatens the perpetrator without either raising his voice or using a stick. He just rings the bell.
In the process the series highlights how men can ensure that women live a violence-free life in the society.
At Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, 2010, where the campaign picked up the Silver Lion award, it was one out of six short films chosen for a section called Speak Out Against Domestic Violence Short Films Contest with entries from the Netherlands, Mexico, the UK and the US. 
Domestic violence occurs in all societies around the world. It is not a function of class, caste, race, religion or nationality. It occurs in rich and poor households alike. It is a fallacy to believe that higher levels of wealth or education automatically protect women from violence. Perpetrators and victims may be highly educated and may also be aware that domestic violence is ‘wrong’ and is a crime. They may belong to any age, sexual orientation and socio-economic background. 
“Season One was the initial campaign. Post-release of the same made the entire nation stand up and watch Bell Bajao! People actually walked across and rang the bell,” says Bauddhayan Mukherji who directed the television spots in collaboration with Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) ad agency. Followed Season Two which picked up three real life incidents and reconstructed them. “These were chosen from the hundreds of ‘excuses’ we received in the mail. The three films feature a retired man, a software engineer and a bus driver respectively,” adds Mukherji.