Years after Kaifi Azmi wrote the moving poem Aurat envisioning women empowerment, his daughter, veteran actor and social activist Shabana Azmi, is bringing together Bollywood’s iconic male actors, such as Amitabh Bachchan to walk for her NGO Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS) to support the cause.
Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, Ranbir Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra — all belonging to different generations of the Hindi film industry — will walk the ramp to show their support for emancipation of women.
The show, Men for Mijwan by Manish Malhotra, is in support of MWS. “What is unique about the event is that iconic male stars from different generations, whom we are referring to as ‘Men of Style’, will be walking the ramp for the empowerment of women in rural India. ‘The man cares for the woman’ is the message we wish to convey. This is an idea whose time has come. There is much greater awareness today that for a healthy society, male participation in women’s empowerment is the need of the hour,” said Shabana.
The aim of the NGO is to empower rural India by focusing on girls and women. It is now jointly run by Shabana and her godchild Namrata Goyal.
The fundraising fashion show on April 1 will showcase creations made using chikankari art by Mijwan girls. “It is very heartening that my colleagues in the film industry whom we approached, were all aware of Mijwan and warmed up to the idea and I am truly indebted to them for their support,” commented Shabana.
“In fact, they have been supportive in spite of gruelling film schedules. Some will come straight from their shooting, while some need to go back for a night shift, but they are accommodating us because the issue is so important,” she added.
“When we started, we had one embroidery centre in Mijwan. Today, we have 10 centres across Uttar Pradesh and we’re still counting. The girls and women now have a livelihood because of which their status within the family has changed. They are saying no to marriage before the age of 18, have opened bank accounts in their names and they are being looked upon as assets, not liabilities. It’s a huge mindset transformation in a patriarchal society,” said the veteran actor.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2014.
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