Mumbai: MTV’s MukkaMaar video, an initiative for creating awareness on the importance of women’s safety through self defense, was recently honored with the Best Public Service Announcement Award at the PromaxBDA Asia Awards 2017 held at Singapore.
Teaching Kung Fu to under-privileged girls on Mumbai’s Versova beach to highlight the need for women to show courage and determination to fight social evil, the initiative was led by actress and entrepreneur Ishita Sharma. When her campaign began to take flight and garnered attention, MTV created a video featuring the brave young girls along with Ishita Sharma, further spreading the powerful message behind the campaign.
Ishita along with Alex Fernandes, owner of Life Institute of Tai Chi, Martial Arts and Healing Research Centre, started MukkaMaar by gathering a group of young slum-dwelling girls in Mumbai. The girls underwent free rigorous training in Kung Fu, sometimes by discreetly leaving their homes to attend the classes conducted by Alex and Ishita. After a year of training, the MukkaMaar girls today have participated in various district and state level championships.
Expressing her excitement with the award, Ishita Sharma said, “It has been a very fulfilling journey and I am so proud of the girls for the courage and determination they’ve shown. It’s an honor to receive this recognition, and I am grateful to MTV, who decided to showcase this inspiring story to the world through their video.”
The Spartan Poker, an online poker gaming portal founded by Amin Rozani, voluntarily came forward to support this campaign. The start-up is helping Ishita and the girls with sponsoring help for training, participation in various tournaments, uniforms, equipment and other necessary supplies to keep their fight going and continue spreading awareness about the campaign.
With the support of The Spartan Poker, MukkaMaar is also expanding its reach to schools, training about 300 students both girls and boys of Juhu’s Gandhi Gram Municipal School, Ishita and team intends to increase the number multifold in 2018 with the help of The Spartan Poker.
Amin Rozani, MD & Co-founder, The Spartan Poker states, “We are proud to be associated with this noble initiative, driven by Ishita and team. It is a matter of pride that their courage, which has been captured through MTVs inspiring video, has been honored by a credible entity like Promax. We at Spartan Poker have always vouched for relevant societal causes, and the issue of women’s safety is extremely dear to us. We will continue lending our support to MukkaMaar in every way possible.”
