Filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda, who is planning to make a biopic on APJ Abdul Kalam, says he needs good amount of time to direct the movie on the former Indian President.
The I Am Kalam director said he had even discussed the idea of making the film with Kalam.
“When you think of making a film on such a personality, you have to take a hiatus for at least three years. It is not a film which can be made in six-seven months.
“I would love to make a film on him because I have spent ample amount of time with him. But I don’t know when I will start making it. I had few discussions with Kalam sir too about his biopic when he was alive,” Nila said.
When the entire country was mourning the death of the former Indian president, who died in Shillong in July, the filmmaker was happy to see how every channel was showing “I am Kalam” to keep his spirit alive.
“Every channel was showing I Am Kalam after his death.
Though it was not a film on his life, it is a film which will keep his spirit and teachings alive.”
I Am Kalam, a 2011 film, revolved around a poor Rajasthani boy whose life changes forever after he takes a cue from a speech delivered by the former President.
Nila’s latest satirical drama Kaun Kitne Paani Mein hit theatres recently. The film talked about the water scarcity in a village in Odisha.
source: http://www.thestatesman.com / The Statesman / Home> Interview / Press Trust of India, New Delhi / September 07th, 2015
Wasiq Khan, the production designer of ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela’, on creating magic and realism
The sets of the film ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela’
It was Dhankor’s first scene in the movie, and a debate was raging about the curtains.
Should they be ornate like the apparel and jewellery in which the fearsome matriarch of the Saneda clan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela is swathed, or should they provide a dash of simplicity?
There were close to 200 samples from which to choose. Production designer Wasiq Khan asked an assistant to put up a roughly textured jute curtain on the wall. Bhansali loved it. The curtain stayed in the scene.
Bhansali’s superbly choreographed treatment of William Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet is also his lightest work till date. Here, as in his previous productions, are the epic sets that create a cosmos of impossible beauty, the decorative touches for ordinary objects, the perfectly coiffured men and women. But here is also a grungy underside to the flourishes, playful backdrops, and the co-existence of grandeur and rusticity. Bhansali’s choice of Khan, who has for years created the illusion of reality in modestly budgeted productions, has resulted in a gypsy opera that is more tethered to verisimilitude than previous ventures like Devdas, Black, Saawariya and Guzaarish
Wasiq Khan. Photo: Devendra Parab/Mint
Ram-Leela might be a mild departure for Bhansali but it has set Khan firmly on the road to bigger things. An acolyte of renowned production designer Samir Chanda, Khan has worked closely with film-maker Anurag Khashyap as well as designed such films as Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore andBesharam. He is among the people who create Hindi cinema’s newfound love for lived-in texture, and the go-to man for a level of detailing that seems utterly natural despite being utterly manufactured.
“My school is the Samir Chanda school, which is more realistic and rustic,” Khan says. “In the old days, production designers were called art directors but many of them were glorified carpenters. All rooms had that painting of Arjun and Krishna from the Mahabharat and two sunmica tables. The villain’s den had to have a stuffed tiger. Nobody bothered talking to the art director about costumes.” Greater attention is being paid to costumes, sets and locations than ever before, he says. “Audiences do care for realism, and you can’t take them for granted any more.”
Khan cut his teeth on such Kashyap films as Black Friday, set in the middle-class neighbourhoods and slums of Mumbai, That Girl in Yellow Boots, which unfolds in the city’s grungy parts, and Gangs of Wasseypur, shot at over 300 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “I did my first commercial film because there was gadbad (trouble) in my kitchen,” he says. “Even when I did Dabangg, I maintained a sepia tint and a rustic feel. But on a film like Ram-Leela, you can open your mind and imagine things, let the artist inside you wake up even as you try to maintain the realism.”
Bhansali came calling because of Rowdy Rathore, which the filmmaker co-produced. He wanted to keep the Baroque style for which he is known but also wanted to create a parallel universe that would be believable, Khan says.
The merry mix of magic and realism is what makes Ram-Leela so special. Everything is decorated, from tattooed bodies to encrusted guns and bandhini-patterned cellphone covers. There are nods to Baz Luhrmann’s anachronisms and V. Shantaram’s invocation of temple art and architecture. The porn movie parlour run by Ram, the movie’s Romeo, is designer seedy, with neon-lit cut-outs and lurid poster art. In the weapon- storage room, guns peek out of straw baskets and from inside shimmering back-lit glass cases as though they were diamonds. The love story’s Juliet, Leela, exchanges naughty SMSes with Ram in a chamber that has Raja Ravi Varma paintings and diaphanous curtains. Glasswork patches liven up rough-hued walls, not unlike homes in the Kutch region whose craft traditions and folk culture have influenced Ram-Leela’s design and narrative.
“We worked primarily with two colours, black and burgundy, and tried to give a rustic feel in every set,” Khan says. (Bhansali didn’t respond to interview requests.)
The extended and expensive production schedule—over 200 days—was very different from what Khan is used to. He is something of a heartland specialist in his ability to conjure up a “gareeb (poor)” aesthetic, as he says. “Whenever people don’t have budgets but want to make their films look good, they think of me.”
Khan learnt his craft from the man whom he calls Dada. Chanda, who died in 2011, followed in the tradition of celebrated realism specialists Bansi Chandragupta, Satyajit Ray’s long-time collaborator, and Sudhendu Roy, the leading art director for Hindi films from the 1960s to the 1990s. Chanda recommended Khan to Kashyap for Last Train to Mahakali, his contribution to the fictional drama series, Star Bestsellers, that aired on Star TV in 1999. “Dada introduced me to Anurag as his best product, and told him that he should take me away and not send me back,” says Khan.
A still from ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’
He had meagre resources to work with on Last Train to Mahakali, as well as for Kashyap’s unreleased debut feature,Paanch, made in 2003. The resourcefulness born out of need combined with the belief, drilled into him by Chanda, that sets would be convincing only when they looked lived in. “There are sets and then there are sets that indicate that somebody has lived there,” Khan says. “A place must have soul and feeling.”
Khan has been integral to Kashyap’s noir-influenced cinema right from the beginning. “We didn’t have a lot of money for Paanch, but we wanted to make the scenes look rich,” Kashyap says about his debut, in which members of a music band commit murder to fund their dreams. “There is a red room in Paanch that was Wasiq’s brainchild,” Kashyap adds. “I told him about my hostel room, with graffiti on the wall. He said, give me the graffiti and I will figure out how to do it, and he did. His ability to transform something from ordinary to extraordinary and make it look real and never lose character is why we work together.”
However, the two did not collaborate on Dev.D or Kashyap’s forthcoming Bombay Velvet. “We didn’t work on Dev.Dbecause both of us were in different zones, but we missed him a lot,” Kashyap says. “He is tremendous at turning minimal into maximum.”
Khan studied at the faculty of fine arts at the Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi. His family was far removed from the tinsel trade, and Khan was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an engineer. He met Chanda while he was a student, on the sets of Ketan Mehta’s Sardar. He got chatting with Chanda, who handed him a business card.
After his graduation in 1996, Khan arrived in Mumbai with Chanda’s business card in his pocket. He dialled the landline number listed on the card, only to discover that the line had been disconnected. He worked his Jamia contacts and got a job at the Kamalistan studio, painting backdrops for art director Ratnakar Phadke. Khan finally met Chanda a few months later, who recruited him as an assistant for Mani Ratnam’s period Tamil film Iruvar. Over the years, Chanda became a surrogate parent for Khan. “He was like my father, we would talk every few days,” Khan says.
He also picked up from Chanda the ability to improvise at short notice. When a shoot for Rahul Dholakia’s political drama Lamhaa in 2010 had to be shifted abruptly from Kashmir to Mumbai because of security concerns, Khan created a set with “truckloads of chinar leaves” that were brought in from the state. “People started calling me from Kashmir and asked me where we had shot the sequence—when you create realism, people do notice.
Chanda’s advice remains a lodestar for the 38-year-old production designer. “I still try and maintain the rules and standards Dada gave me,” he says. “He told me to never stop thinking that the job is done. I don’t do too many films—he used to tell me that money tends to come all of a sudden.” Yet, Khan has been unable to resist the demand for his services. He is now working on the Bhoothnath sequel, a biopic on the political prisoner Sarabjit Singh, a remake of the Tamil film Ramana, and 21 Topon ki Salaami, about P.N. Joshi, a put-upon government employee whose sons try to honour him with a 21-gun salute at his funeral.
Joshi’s chawl abode is a good example of Khan’s adeptness at mimicking reality. Packed into the tiny space are a stainless steel vessel rack, a goddess-themed calendar, a mezzanine storage loft and the ice-cream spoon holder with fake purple flowers that is a common sight in middle-class homes. “You can’t pinpoint it when you watch a movie, but you can feel it,” Khan says about the art of creating the invisible, yet visible, backdrop. “Everything should not be perfect, since life isn’t perfect.”
source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> Leisure / by Nandini Ramnath / Saturday – November 20th, 2013
Mohammed Shabbir toils over a huge handi to conjure up his signature dish – kacchi gosht ki biryani. In the kitchen, a few men and women work quietly, cleaning vegetables, and washing vessels. Bhawarchi Shabbir on Whites Road, Royapettah, is not just another restaurant. It is a training centre which aims to help people who have battled or are battling mental illness, find gainful employment and their own space in mainstream society.
An initiative of The Banyan, a mental health NGO, and restaurateur M Mahadevan, Bhawarchi Shabbir was officially launched last Monday. “This is a training centre where about six to eight people will be trained in service – pouring water, cleaning and cutting vegetables in the kitchen, washing vessels and assisting the chef,” says Mahadevan. “At present, we have five women and two men.”
After three months of training, they will be placed in establishments run by Mahadevan, such as The Marina, Copper Chimney and Bombay Brasserie. “Once they become full-time employees they will be paid Rs 9,000 per month, plus accommodation, food on duty, medical and insurance.”
To run Bhawarchi Shabbir, Mahadevan has brought down ustad Mohammed Shabbir from Hyderabad. While customers can drop into the 30-seater place and sample Shabbir’s Dum Ka Murg Biriyani, Shabbir’s Kacchi Gosht Ki Biriyani and vegetable biriyani, along with other Hyderabadi dishes, takeaways is a major market they are targeting. The specialty, of course, are the biriyanis, which customers can order by the kilo.
All the trainees are either residents of The Banyan or former clients who have accessed services from The Banyan. “We select those who are interested in the initiative. The idea is for them to be trained and employed so that more people are inspired to come forward,” says Mrinalini Ravi, assistant director of male shelter programme of The Banyan.
“There are many people living with depression and bipolar disorder who are part of mainstream work; maybe they haven’t disclosed their status for fear of stigma and discrimination. In the case of those who are symptomatic and experience a certain level of chronicity which makes ill health more visible, discrimination seems to be rampant. Sadly maintaining social order is the norm in our society and differences are not easily embraced. Thus one gets judged and alienated if one is different or doesn’t conform,” says Vandana Gopikumar, one of the founders of The Banyan.
This initiative aims to ensure that there is promotion of self-reliance, self-worth and creativity amongst those living with a mental illness as well as positive reinforcement at the society level so that people question their own perceptions and aspire to think inclusively, she adds. “This change in mindset will encourage social mixing and build a more just, friendly and cohesive society,” says Vandana.
There are, of course, challenges. For one, Mahadevan’s staff will be sensitized to work along with the trainees. “His employees know some of the people can be symptomatic, so they have to accept it. They need to incentivize, reward and motivate them,” says Mrinalini.
For Meenakshi*, supervisor, it is a chance to have steady employment. Deserted by her husband and treated for depression, she had to discontinue working as a teacher. “After that I worked in several places,” she says. “But here I hope to get steady work and a regular salary.”
*name changed
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / by Priya Menon, TNN / September 06th, 2015
Unassuming man, humble beginnings and simple food ethics—that’s life for Mirza Faqib, owner of Al-Bake restaurant. Unlike other restaurants, wherein successors inherit business, Faqib has merely joined in as an extra hand. He says, he could never in his lifetime, overtake his parents in any respect—business or otherwise.
His parents, Mirza Ziauddin Beg and Ishrat Ara, who came from Saudi Arabia, left much of their possessions there but for one thing—their penchant for cooking. “When they came to India many years ago, they had few resources, but abundant enthusiasm to make life work here,” says Faqib. It was with that idea that Al-Bake, which literally means all-baked, a restaurant that serves only baked dishes, started. “We have many dishes on our menu, but nothing sells like our shawarmas—vegetarian and non-vegetarian. To be honest, ours is an adaptation of the Lebanese shawarma and we had to improvise because people here wouldn’t have cared for the authentic recipe,” he says.
Having roots in a royal mughal family, father’s inherent interest in food helped Faqib a lot in the process of re-developing the dish. When in Saudi Arabia, he was introduced to many cuisines but the one dish he liked the most was shawarma. “You have to see the queues outside our restaurant. They’re self-explanatory. We knew that people would like what we had to offer but to this extent, we hadn’t fathomed,” says Faqib.
This family is certainly not part of the hoity toity brigade of new-age restaurateurs who prefer to not get their hands dirty. An engineer by profession, Faqib cooks and cleans along with his parents everyday at their restaurant. “Actually, we cannot afford not to. Our recipe is our bread and butter. As clichéd as it may sound, it’s top secret and I cannot even let you in on one single ingredient. We have to preserve this and maintain quality of food that goes off the kitchen counters. We have good chefs, but at the end of the day, being present in the kitchen is what helps,” he says, adding, “Another thing. Working alongside other chefs has many perks, one of them being unlimited gorging on our favourite food. You know which one I’m talking about.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> The Sunday Standard / by Ayesha Singh / July 26th, 2015
Weavers of Erode paid homage to former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam by weaving a window curtain with the ‘missile man’s’ face. They plan to hand over their specially made curtain to Kalam’s family soon.
Talking to TOI, designer of Chentex (The Chennimalai Weavers Cooperative Production and Sale society Limited), K Appusamy, said that this is the first time he has designed a curtain for such an occasion. “I have made several curtains stamped with eminent personalities. I am happy to have this opportunity to design a curtain as a tribute to Dr. Kalam.
It’s a jacquard weave he has used to make the curtain. The face is first designed on the computer. After work on the computer was completed, he handed over the jacquard pattern to weavers Baby and her husband Subramanian.
“It took me a day to complete the design work. It took another whole day for the weavers to complete their work. The entire curtain has been made by hand,” he said.
This is the second time Appusamy designed Kalam’s face. On the first occasion, he had made a wall hanging when Dr Kalam became the President of the country. He has also made a wall hanging for Sachin Tendulkar, when he hit a double century in a one-day match for the first time.
He also did some design work for the Semmozhi function held during the DMK regime. When the Thanjavur temple turned 1,000 years old, he created a design of the temple. He got global recognition for his bed spread sprinkled with Tamil vowels.
The members of Chentex plan to present this special window curtain to Kalam’s family in Rameswaram, after all the formalities are completed.
They plan to sell specially made wall hangings through Co-optex outlets across the state.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / by V. Senthil Kumaran, TNN / July 30th, 2015
Not only was Najam Hussain a saviour for the teams he represented on the field with his all-round skills, he proved a good Samaritan off it as well.
Even as he was scoring tons of runs and taking wickets on the field, the devout man wouldn’t shy away from lending a helping hand to the needy or distributing alms at a nearby dargah during lunch on match days.
“The holy Quran teaches you to help the needy and that’s what I tried to do. It gave me great joy to go to a nearby dargah and do whatever I could to poor people,” says the 74-year-old with 1,375 runs and 80 wickets from 41 first-class (Ranji Trophy) outings. His former state mates believe Hussain was someone who maximized his talent. “He was no novice with the bat, would chip in with the ball and was an astute fielder as well,” says K R Rajagopal.
Former Hyderabad offie V Ramnarayan vividly recalls Hussain’s match-winning nine-wicket haul for Jolly Rovers in a Buchi Babu game back in the 1960s. “It was a game against Hyderabad and they were cruising. Suddenly, it rained. I left for home and the next day I came to know from the newspapers that Hussain had bowled Jolly Rovers to an emphatic win with his offspin,” recalls Ramnarayan.
Interestingly , Ramnarayan, in his book, describes Hussain’s bowling as `poi’ (false or non-existent in Tamil), but he takes it in his stride. “It’s all in good humour. Having said that, if I wasn’t good enough I wouldn’t have taken a single wicket at the first-class level,” says Hussain.
Belliappa feels Hussain fit the term `team man’ to the T. “He would always put the team above everything else. He would be ready to bat anywhere in the batting order and give his best whenever given the ball. As a captain, I couldn’t have asked for more,” notes P K Belliappa, before adding, “Hussain may have been a great player, but he was a dogooder and that’s what made him such an enduring hu man being.”
Hussain says the strong bonding in the state side is something he will always cherish.”I represented Jolly Rov ers and the state side at a time when they were the strongest. To have been part of a side that had stalwarts such as Rajagopal, Kalyanasundaram, Belliappa was sheer joy ,” notes Hussain, who is currently based in Bengaluru.
(A weekly column on famous sports personalities whose first playing filed was Chennai and its neighbourhood)
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / by Prasad R S, TNN / August 29th, 2015
Mysore’s V. Ambika heaved the iron ball to a distance of 11.98 metres to win the gold medal in the under-16 girls’ shot put event in the three-day Shriram Properties National inter-district junior athletics meet (NIDJAM), at the Port Diamond Jubilee Stadium, here on Saturday.
Mumbai’s Poorna Rao Rane (11.94) and Chennai girl S.V. Visruti (11.08) settled for silver and bronze respectively.
In the four other finals held on the inaugural day, Tripura’s Afsana Aktar threw the javelin to a distance of 33.37m to take the top honours in the under-16 girls’ event.
Varanasi’s Versha Verma (32.18) and Cuttack’s Priyanka Toppa (30.95) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Mohit of Rewari (16.64m) was away ahead of his rivals in under-14 shot put. Thane’s Abhijit Nair (15.93m) and Panipat’s Sourabh (15.76m) were the other podium finishers.
Ranga Reddy’s Manan Venkatesh, with his impressive second leap (6.11m), bagged the coveted yellow metal. Delhi’s Sumit Rohila and Ernakulam’s Aadhinath took home silver and bronze respectively.
AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu gave away the medals to the winners.
In the morning the event was inaugurated by a host of ministers and Athletic Federation of India officials including president Adille Sumariwala and Olympian Anju Bobby George.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today voted for Nahid Afrin, the young singing sensation from Assam, for the “Indian Idol Junior” Season II.
Tarun Gogoi said the young promising singer from Assam has been regaling the audience and viewers with her mellifluous voice and bringing laurels to the state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today voted for Nahid Afrin, the young singing sensation from Assam, for the “Indian Idol Junior” Season II.
In a statement here, Gogoi said the young promising singer from Assam has been regaling the audience and viewers with her mellifluous voice and bringing laurels to the state.
The Chief Minister appealed to the people of the state to vote for Nahid, who hails from Sonitpur district, to enable her to win the coveted singing reality show.
Impressed by the singing of the 13-year old Visharad, a Part 2 student of classical music under the Bhatkhande Kala Kendra, the Indian Idol Junior Season 2 judges said she might get offers for playback singing by the end of this season.
Intense campaigning is on in Assam, particularly in her home town Biswanath Chariali, for Nahid’s victory in the singing reality show.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Television / by PTI / Guwahati – August 22nd, 2015
Maksud Alam Mollah outside his home in Dhulagarh, Howrah. Picture by Anup Bhattacharya
Maksud Alam Mollah won three medals in cycling at the Special Olympics in Los Angeles last month but came back with only two. The 22-year-old can’t recall where and how he misplaced the bronze that he had won in the 5km time trial event.
The only cyclist from Bengal in the Indian contingent has a condition called intellectual disability, characterised by a particularly weak memory. “He must have kept the bronze medal somewhere in the hotel or with a friend and forgotten about it,” said mother Kamruneesa.
Maksud has been taught to write down everything so that he doesn’t forget. But if there’s one thing that this young man from Dhulagarh, in Howrah, doesn’t need to be reminded of, it is how to cycle like a champion.
Maksud is convinced he would have won a fourth medal in Los Angeles with the cycle of his choice. “I had difficulty with the cycle that I was first given. It had a flat handlebar. My personal cycle has a curved handlebar. I couldn’t perform well in the first event because of this,” he recalled.
Athletes don’t take their own equipment to the Special Olympics. The Bharat chapter of the Games arranges everything.
“We changed Maksud’s cycle after we learnt that he was having difficulty riding the first one,” said Ashim Pal, the coach who had accompanied the Bengal contingent.
After that first hiccup and a new cycle, Maksud won a medal each in the three other events he competed in, including gold in the 5km road race and silver in the 10km road race.
To his parents, Maksud misplacing his third Special Olympics medal is just another footnote in his journey from Howrah to Los Angeles.
His elder brother Manzoor has the same condition and almost every day brings a new challenge for Kamruneesa and her husband Abu Sattar Mollah. “We had a zari business but couldn’t sustain it after I fell ill. My wife bought a sewing machine and started taking bulk orders for readymade pyjamas. I now run a small shop for candy and chocolates,” said Abu.
Although life is a struggle, the Mollahs are glad that Maksud has found his mission. “I feel proud of my son,” smiled Kamruneesa.
Only three years ago, the prospects weren’t so bright. Maksud had joined the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH) in Bonhooghly in 2012 with diminished cognitive abilities.
“He was studying in a madarsa but had fallen behind in studies. He couldn’t follow his lessons properly. We had to support and encourage him so that his performance improved. His cognition has since improved, which is why he is being able to perform better in sports as well,” said one of Maksud’s teachers at NIMH.
Help has come in other ways too. “The institute would often waive the fees for Maksud’s education. His coach hasn’t taken his fees for several months,” Kamruneesa said.
At NIMH, Maksud has trained under Tamal Chatterjee, the games teacher who also runs a sports centre called KC Memorial at Kamarhati. “I introduced Maksud to various sports. Through trial and error, I realised that cycling was his strongpoint. He went to the National Games organised by Special Olympics Bharat in Bhopal last year, where he was selected for the Special Olympics in Los Angeles,” Chatterjee said.
The selected athletes were required to attend four camps, where they were tested and trained in behaviour and independence, among other things. Maksud needed time to adjust to the fact that he would have to stay without his mother by his side for some time, Chatterjee recalled.
At KC Memorial, Maksud would practise using Chatterjee’s cycle. He got his own cycle after being selected for the Los Angeles trip.
Some residents of the neighbourhood and the panchayat pradhan of Dhulagarh, Rampada Dhonk, pooled in money for Maksud to buy his first cycle. The West Bengal chapter of Special Olympics Bharat sponsored his gear.
“The central government has announced cash awards for the winners. Gold medallists will be given Rs 5 lakh, silver medallists will receive Rs 3 lakh and bronze medal winners will get Rs 1 lakh each,” said Ashoke Chaki, the treasurer of Special Olympics Bharat, West Bengal.
For Maksud, the wheels of success and recognition have just been set in motion.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta,India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Dalia Mukherjee / Tuesday – September 01st, 2015
Merajuddin Syed has become a local hero over the past few weeks
Image: Facebook/Vijay Vj
Vijay, a resident of Hyderabad, was going home from work on August 26 when his bike ran out of fuel.
As he was pushing his vehicle, on the lookout for a place to refill, he was stopped by Merajuddin Syed, a traffic policeman who was on duty near the Begumpet area of the city.
“When he came to know that I had run out of petrol, he yelled at a man beside him to get a bottle of petrol from his bike. Meanwhile, he told me that he has got a hike and with the raise in his salary, he wanted to help people. Now, he helps people out who have run out of petrol, gives it to them free of cost. I was so overwhelmed by his kind and helpful nature. Hats off to you,” Vijay wrote in a Facebook post that had earlier gone viral.
Merajuddin Syed has become a local hero over the past few weeks and is always greeted with a smile as vehicles pass by.
He carries 6 bottles of petrol in his scooty and refuses to take any money for it, even if the vehicle owner insists.
Syed was interviewed by ANI recently where he spoke about his inspiration to do the good deed, and how the idea came up.
He also added that he was content with what he was doing. “I like when they smile after a messy day. I want people to understand that we (police) are not here just to punish offenders or to take a bribe. We can also help them.”
