Poor students draw inspiration from ‘Dangal’

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, January 9

It was a day to remember for Anjali Tamta, a student of Mussoorie Girls Inter College. She along with her 22 fellows watches ‘Dangal’, a Bollywood flick starring Amir Khan, in a cinema hall here yesterday. It is for the first time they saw a cinema hall.

A philanthropist couple, Sameer and Kavita Shukla, took them out for the movie. Sameer and Kavita Shukla are co-directors of Soham Art and Heritage Centre near Bada Mod in Mussoorie. The duo, through their organisation, Shakti, have embarked upon a mission of empowering poor students, especially girls through value-based education and have provided their services for free to more than 300 students so far.

Presently, around 22 students are being given additional help in academics and other extracurricular activities.

“These students from poor strata revealed that they had never been to a cinema hall, hence it was decided to arrange for their movie tickets,” said Kavita Shukla, who accompanied them.

Kajal Rangad, an Class XI student, said she was inspired by the struggle of two girl wrestlers in the film. Rangad too is a sportsperson (athlete). She made it to the state level games but had to give way due to paucity of funds and lack of adequate training. “If given support, I will pursue my dream of becoming an athlete to bring laurels to the country,” she says. Her father works as a forest guard in Mussoorie.

Sameer Shukla says, “We thought that we will try to make students’’ dream come true by taking them to places once a year where they have never been to. Last year, they got an opportunity to go to Domino’s Pizza Hut and this time they were taken to watch Dangal to make them drew inspiration from the movie wherein sheer hard work brings glory to wrestler girls.”

Students said they were thankful to the Shukla couple for the outing.