Farhan Akhtar To Promote MARD At IPL

While other actors and filmmakers are cashing in on the Indian Premiere League (IPL), for promoting their upcoming films, singer-actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar will use the platform to promote his initiative MARD, which stands for Men Against Rape And Discrimination.

Preity Zinta's team Kings XI Punjab and Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders will battle it out on April 26. This will one of the biggest matches of this IPL season and Farhan will be distributing 70,000 moustaches among the spectators at the Eden Gardens. Everyone will be asked to sport these moustaches to support the cause.

Farhan has also been actively promoting the cause through social networking sites. He has been asking his followers on Twitter to adopt the message and also to  spread it. Akhtar conceived MARD after an incident in August 2012 where Pallavi Purkayastha, a Mumbai lawyer was sexually assaulted and then killed by her home watchman. Akhtar launched his campaign in March 2013. In an interview, Akhtar stated that he also wanted to bring the campaign to education institutions, such as schools and colleges, "to drive home the message that women need to be respected."