Farhan Akhtar’s MARD finds voice in Mahesh Babu

Farhan Akhtar and Mahesh Babu

Farhan Akhtar's campaign called MARD which he launched after the death of gang rape victim in Delhi, Nirbhaya, has found a star supporter down south. The actor has been joined by Mahesh Babu, a Tollywood star, who is all set to recite the poem MARD, and collaborate with Farhan in this cause.

MARD- Men Against Rape and Discrimination, is a poem whose lyrics have been rendered by Farhan's father and lyricist Javed Akhtar. Mahesh will narrate the poem in Telugu for Farhan's venture which is designed to create awareness among men to respect women and promote gender equality.

By collaborating with Mahesh, the actor and filmmaker will be able to reach his campaign in South India too. Besides Telugu, the poem is already translated into other languages. Says a source, "This poem, which has already been translated in Marathi, Urdu and Bengali will now be translated in Telugu. Mahesh Babu has agreed to record the poem. The recording will be done on Tuesday in Hyderabad. As Farhan wanted to reach out to people in the South also, he felt no one else could make more of an impact than Mahesh."

Farhan, who was one of the actors from B-Town to be very moved by the ruthless Nirbhaya gang rape, is perhaps the only B-Town celeb to translate his anger into action. He has pledged to enlighten people against gender bias and launched a drive to condemn crimes against women through various mediums and languages.