Fardeen Khan bats for AIDS awareness

Shillong, May 1 (UNI) Audiences were in for a rocking time as Bollywood star Fardeen Khan took the stage for the cause of HIV/AIDS here at a musical extravaganza that was specially designed to spread awareness about the deadly disease.

''I have heard that Shillong likes to rock and I am here today to talk about HIV/AIDS and have some fun with you. Through the universal language of music, I want to draw your attention to this serious health problem we are facing today,'' said Fardeen at a rock show here last night amid 1,000 odd audience.

The show at the U Tirot Singh Indoor Stadium was part of the country's largest AIDS awareness campaign, launched by the BBC World Service Trust, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Doordarshan.

The campaign includes a weekly youth focused reality television show ''Haath Se Haath Milla'', which is to be telecasted on the national network of Doordarshan. The show, in its coming three episodes, will tell the story of Shillong-based activist Mrs Hasina Kharbhih who has been working for spreading awareness about AIDS in the North East region.

Fardeen was here to address the issue on invitation from Mrs Kharbhih.

''India has 5.1 million people infected with HIV, which is the second largest in the world. I urge the parents here to talk about the disease openly with their children. This will be the first step towards fighting this deadly disease,'' said Fardeen.

At the show, Fardeen joined the audience in cheering to the performance of different local bands such as 'Strait Brothers', 'Rhythm Devine', 'Democracy' and 'Innocent Eyes'.

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