Gabbar Singh, the antagonist in Hindi blockbuster Sholay, hit the streets of Raiganj with his sidekick Sambha on Monday to make people aware of the measures they should adopt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Gabbar, whose dialogues are equally famous like the film that was released in 1975, visited prominent crossings and markets of the town and asked people to stop coming out of their homes without proper reasons.

At places like Siliguri More and Debinagar, the air reverberated with the “Kitne Aadmi Hain,” a famous throwing of the antagonist, followed by the roaring laughter that startled people who turned up to hear what Gabbar had to tell them.

“The police and the administration are trying their level best to convince people that they should stay indoors. But even then, a section of people is violating the lockdown on some pretext or other. That is why we felt the need to launch an awareness campaign and are performing a short skit of around four-and-a-half minutes,” said Bhabananda Singha, a media person who is playing the role of Gabbar.

The initiative to stage the skit was taken by Tribeni, a local theatre group, along with North Dinajpur district police.

In the skit, Gabbar and his sidekick were seen narrating the need to stay at home, the mandatory use of mask and importance of social distancing. “Today (Monday), we staged the skit at five locations in the town. We hope the campaign would prove effective,” said Singha.

The North Dinajpur district police offered a guard of honour to the doctors, health workers and civic workers of the town on Monday.

“Ever since the pandemic has been reported in our country, people who are associated with emergency services are relentlessly performing their duties. We felt it important to recognise these front-liners. That was why the guard of honour was arranged,” said Sumit Kumar, the superintendent of police of Raiganj police district.

The guard of honour was organised on the premises of the Raiganj municipality headquarters.