Sat 13 Apr 2019:
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao’s TV show Toofan Aalaya bring inspiring stories of people associated with the
Aamir Khan is back on TV with Toofan Aalaya. The actor who made a mark on TV with an inspiring show like Satyamev Jayate is now working to curb water scarcity in Maharashtra. He along with his wife and team of Satyamev Jayate have setup Paani Foundation to fight drought in rural Maharashtra.
Aamir Khan opens the episode by introducing how voluntary labour of villagers helped in solving the issue of water scarcity in Maharashtra. He says, “Three years ago we made a small start. The dream was that if people came together and work unitedly, Maharashtra would become drought-free one day. We didn’t know if our dream would come true. Paani Foundation was founded. Water Cup competition was started. Villagers began striving to make their village’s water abundant through voluntary labour.”
Aamir Khan shared the first episode of Toofan Aalaya on his social media account. He wrote, “Hey guys, Please watch the first episode of Kiran & my TV show, Toofan Aalaya. Tell me what you think ?”
Hey guys,
Please watch the first episode of Kiran & my TV show, Toofan Aalaya.
Tell me what you think ? https://t.co/OYIDzBBRhp@paanifoundation #WaterCup2019 #ToofanAalaya season 3— Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) April 12, 2019
In the 45 minutes long video, Aamir and Kiran converse in Marathi and talk about how the drought has affected the rural villages where women have to travel miles to fetch water and youngsters are migrating to cities to earn a livelihood, leaving behind ghost villages.
Kiran Rao shared that it was just 116 villages when they started the project. Slowly, their dream started to take shape, people worked relentlessly and by 2018 their work reached 4000 villages. Their foundation is offering training in scientific watershed management, leadership and community-building and is working with around 90 per cent of drought-hit Maharashtra.
They shared how they organise Satyamev Jayate Water Cup, in which villages compete to do the best work in watershed management rain water harvesting. This is a people’s movement to make villages water abundant. This is the fourth year of the competition, In the last three years, this has brought a great change. The soil has moistened, fields became lush, villages prospered.
The most unique thing about Water Cup competition is that every village wins a prize in the form of water. This year Water Cup 2019 will be held from April 8 to May 22, 2019. This year 76 talukas, more than 4,700 villages will be participating in this competition and help their village to be water abundant.
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao were impressed with the enthusiasm in kids. So, they created a special programme for kids in school called Nisargachi Dhamaal Shala. “Taking inspiration from the enthusiasm of children, we named it Nisargachi Dhamaal Shala. And these children. What can we tell you about them. Their passion stirred up some amazing work in their villages,” said Kiran Rao.
Toofan Aalaya is aired on Zee Marathi every Saturday at 9.30 pm.
