At Huda City Centre Metro station, WednesdayCommuters violating traffic rules near Gurgaon’s HUDA City Centre Metro station on Wednesday were flagged down by Gabbar Singh, the antagonist from the cult classic Sholay, and his henchman Sambha.
While the former held a pistol in his hand, his accomplice was armed with a rifle. Both pointed the mock weapons at traffic violators, repeating dialogues from the movie in an attempt to discourage them from breaking traffic rules.
Aimed at spreading awareness among commuters about road safety, the initiative was part of the events organised to mark ‘Road Safety Week’. “This campaign was a joint initiative of the Gurgaon Traffic Police and the Road Safety Organisation, which roped in actors from Apeejay Dwarka campus,” said Subhash Boken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.
According to officers from the RSO, the campaign was carried out at four points — HUDA City Centre junction, Bristol Chowk, Sahara Mall on MG Road, and IFFCO Chowk.
“For the last two years, we used characters such as Yamraj, Ravana, Ram and Lakshman. So we decided to do something different this time. These two characters were chosen because they are universally recognisable and associated with a sense of fear. We wanted to use that fear positively to impart the message of road safety,” said Road Safety Officer Rajkumar. “… Violators were not fined, but made aware of their offence…,” he added.
While second-year MBA student Deepak Bajaj (24) donned the role of Gabbar, Nitin Singh (22), a first-year mass communication student, was Sambha.
“The campaign was chalked out on Monday, so we were left with just a day to prepare. Gabbar’s voice and laugh are both well-known… we had to master the voice modulation and also come up with lines that combined famous dialogues from the film with the message of road safety,” said Bajaj. He has been involved in theatre for six years and collaborating with Gurgaon Police and RSO since 2014.
Violators stopped on Wednesday included those driving on the wrong side and riding motorcycles without helmets. At HUDA City Centre, one of the first people to be caught was a man without a helmet. Responding to Sambha’s “Sarkaar kar dein challan?”, Gabbar said, “Nahin, challan se nahin sudhrenge… kya tum karoge road safety ka paalan?” The driver took out a helmet from below the seat — an act that Gabbar lauded with a “Shaabash” before saying, “Jisne road safety ka paalan nahin kiya, usse yaad rehna chahiye ki Gabbar aa jayega.”
