Farhan's campaign against women exploitation

Farhan Akhtar's campaign against 'rape and discrimination' of women was prompted by his employee's assault and rape

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 13, 2013)

Farhan Akhtar has a lot on his mind. And it is not just his ongoing film with Vidya Balan or the upcoming Milkha Singh biopic. The actor-filmmaker recently initiated MARD - Men Against Rape and Discrimination – a campaign that stormed social networking with hard-hitting slogans.

On the set of Shaadi Ke Side Effects Farhan says he intends to take the fight to schools and colleges, "to drive home the message that women need to be respected." He believes he has better chances of being heard because of being a public figure. "I want to see an nd to crimes against women. And this can only happen if we reform the the young and impressionable minds," he says.
The idea was born in August last year when Akhtar's employee 25-year-old Pallavi Purkayastha, a lawyer by profession, was sexually assaulted and murdered by her watchman at home. Pallavi handled the legal accounts of Farhan and Ritesh Sidhwani's company. "The horrifying gang rape in Delhi and the sexual harassment incident in Assam just strengthened my resolve," he explains.

Farhan disapproves of the callousness on the part of government officials who make it seem as though women are "responsible for the inhumane treatment meted out to them." He says: "The focus is on strength, ambition and physicality in the male sex. Not on sensitivity. Hence the attitude: If I am a man, I need to be aggressive," he says adding, "Men forget that they need compassion to justify their manhood."

Farhan adds, "We hear about sexual crimes, there is an upsurge of emotions, and then we forget about them. A bicep of 18 inches doesn't make you a man."

Farhan's initiative has received a thumbs up from SRK, Priyanka, Arjun Rampal, Hrithik, Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan.

DNA (March 13, 2013)

We wonder what Farhan Akhtar is up to? The thinking man's actor has been posting several messages on a social networking website for the past few days and has even put up a poster of MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination). The actor recently tweeted, "If you are a man who respects women' her rights, her dignity, her independence, her mind, her body, her life' you are a #MARD. Change is inevitable. Be part of it. Spread the awareness of what it means to be a real #MARD. You are a real #MARD when women feel safe in your company or your presence. You are a real #MARD when you treat your daughter & son as equals. You are a real #MARD if you respectfully earn the love of a woman. You are a real #MARD if you respect her choice to say No. Teach them at the age when self awareness begins that being a man involves compassion, gender sensitivity & respect for women. #MARD. Take the #MARD message to your schools, your colleges, your offices, your homes. Each of YOU must become catalysts for Change." While we appreciate all that FA is doing for the cause of women, it is beginning to sound like one big political bhaashan! Will he please tell us what it is?