Sachin Tendulkar comes in support of Farhan Akhtar's MARD
- IndiaGlitz, [Tuesday,June 11 2013]
Taking a step further to promote his social initiative MARD, multi-talented Farhan Akhtar is taking the help of our Lord Of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar. Buzz is that the Master blaster soon will be a part of the campaign where he will recite a poem in Marathi for AkhtarÂs MARD initiative (Men Against Rape and Discrimination), which attempts to create awareness among men to respect women and promote gender equality.
The idea is to rope in various people and get them to recite a poem in their respective mother tongue. So, for the Marathi version, Sachin was approached. He agreed instantly, revealed an insider.
When contacted, Farhan said, Sachin is one of the biggest icons of modern India and his support has given us more strength to keep moving ahead in our quest for a gender equal and safe society.
I thank him for making the time and am deeply grateful for his presence in this initiative. The poem, originally penned in Hindi by FarhanÂs father, Javed Akhtar, has been translated into different languages - Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi and Marathi, among others. Photographer Atul Kasbekar spoke to Sachin (KasbekarÂs organisation, Bling!, has partnered with Farhan on the initiative) about the cause. Said Kasbekar, IÂve known Sachin for 20 years.
After the World Cup final win, Sachin specially mentioned the women in his life - wife Anjali and daughter Sara. So, of course, we knew that he would feel strongly about the issue. The final nod from Sachin came during the recently concluded T20 tournament.
Farhan and I met him. Anjali was also present. It took him five minutes to go through the details and say yes. He called us again and asked if we would want to record it before he goes on a holiday, said Kasbekar, adding that the cricketer recorded the poem at music directors Shankar-EhsaanLoyÂs studio.