Muti talented Farhan Akhtar has many feathers to his cap. He is an actor, a producer, a poet and a singer, but are we well acquainted with his fatherly instinct? After Amitabh Bachchan recently wrote to his granddaughters – Navya Naveli and Aaradhya Bachchan, it is Farhan, who has written an open letter to his daughter, under a social campaign called #LetsTalkAboutRape. Farhan has two daughters with former wife and hairstylist Adhuna Akhtar.

The social campaign is an initiative by Hindustan Times, and Farhan started with a small but powerful poem, which read:
Dear Daughter,

How do I even start writing to you about sexual violence and rape? My instinct, any father’s instinct, is to protect and nurture, but it is an issue that we must confront and discuss. Let me start, dear child, by quoting from a poem I wrote after the brutal murder of a sprightly lawyer in my team in 2013. You were too young then, only 12, and all I wanted was to see you smile and feel brave and invincible, like you did. The attempted rape and murder was too dark a subject for me to bring up then.
Now, you’re 16 and I can read the questions in your mind. Yes, the same questions that I find myself asking:
What is this country that I live in?
That takes away her right to love
Brutalises her with an iron glove
Rapes her without fear
of there being justice for her tear…
…what do I tell my daughter?
That she’s growing up to be lamb for the slaughter
we’ve got to make a change
Reboot, reformat, rearrange,
and never give in
no matter how much our head may spin
Just keep asking the question
What is this country that I live in?

“…what do I tell my daughter? That she’s growing up to be the lamb for slaughter we’ve got to make a change..Reboot, reformat, rearrange and never give in.”

In fact, the actor dedicated the post to every girl child in the country. Farhan took to his official Twitter account and wrote, “To mine, to yours, to all daughters out there.. @htTweets @shammybaweja @MardOfficial @unwomenindia @glblctznIN #LetsTalkAboutRape”

To mine, to yours, to all daughters out there.. @htTweets @shammybaweja @MardOfficial @unwomenindia @glblctznIN #LetsTalkAboutRape https://t.co/Pn6EoQXpeG

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) October 3, 2016