Stunt Mania

Gulam Sayyad comes across as any average Indian,with hope in his eyes,a smile on his face and a file full of dreams. He is no star,nor does he claim to be one,but flip through the pages of this man from Maharashtra,and you’ll come across certificates,proof of his daredevil stunts,his acrobatic way of living and earning livelihood.

In his forties,Sayyad hails from Nasik in Maharashtra,and has displayed his death-defying acts in reality shows like Shabaash India in 2006 and the recent,Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega in 2010. “I have also performed before the Gandhi family,” says Sayyad as he shows the pictures of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi honouring him,There’s one with Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil too.

From pulling a truck with his hair,lifting 50 kilos of weight with his teeth,picking chairs with his eyelids,breaking bricks with his bare hands to cracking coconut with his head and breaking 20 kilos of weights in one go,Sayyad’s been on a test drive since he was a child,“Stunts like these are a norm in village akharas and we’ve grown up on them. For instance,my students can tie a sari standing on a ten feet tall bamboo stick and can jump through rings of fire too,” he says. In Chandigarh looking for places to showcase his talent along with a team,Sayyad says he travels to other states once a year and explores shows there.

After Orissa and Karnataka,he is now travelling in Haryana,Himachal and Punjab.

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