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28 March 2024

No more ice bucket: Superstar Mammootty begins 'My Tree Challenge' in Dubai

Mammootty plants a sapling in the premises of Grand Hyatt Hotel Dubai. (Iype Vallikkadan)

Published
By VM Sathish

My Tree Challenge (MTC), started in Kerala (India) is now going global, with the South Indian superstar Mammootty bringing the initiative to the UAE.

Mammootty planted a tamarind tree in the premises of Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, on Tuesday evening.

“This is the first international launch of ‘plant a tree’ challenge that I have taken up in India. It is not a challenge, rather a request to accept the challenge of planting more trees. The idea has been in other states like Tamil Nadu where the school students are challenged by superstar Vijaya to plant 25,000 trees.

“Here in Dubai, a green city, the officials at the Grand Hyatt Hotel offered me a challenge to plant a tree, which I completed now. I am happy that the idea has been accepted outside India and more trees will be planted all over the world,” Mammootty said.

Planting a sapling he challenged other star to take up the cause (an idea developed from ALS Ice Bucket Challenge).

Mammootty, nick named as Mammootree, due to the growing popularity of My Tree challenge, had earlier challenged Tamil superstars Vijay, Suriya and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to plant a tree to make the world greener and a better place to live.

The campaign has been spreading like wildfire with schools, colleges and Universities accepting the challenge.

While Shah Rukh is yet to take up the challenge, Vijay and Surya have already completed the tree challenge.

Within a short span of time, around 25,000 trees have been planted in and outside Kerala and this is the first time that the campaign is spreading outside India.

Surya has accepted Mammootty’s challenge by planting a coconut sapling and nominated other celebrities like Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, Kannada actor Sudeep and Telugu actor Mahesh Babu.

The idea of “My Tree Challenge” gained popularity after ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and Rice Bucket Challenges gained popularity through social networking sites and the media.

According to the hotel representative, the tree planting challenge will be taken up in all the major properties of the hotel group.

After planting the tree and watering it, Mammotty said the Government of Dubai has been keenly promoting a green environment in the Gulf region and the desert region has been transformed into a oasis and through the Plant a Tree challenge, greenery will be created here.

Mammootty was given the challenge by the Hotel management after he arrived in the UAE for the premier show of 'Munneettam' in Dubai.

Tamil actor Vijay also took up Mammootty's challenge and has decided to plant 25,000 saplings and is said to be interested in challenging school children.

Abdul Ghani, the brain child of APJ Abdul Kalam's "Green Kalam Project" is helping Vijay in this green project.

Many other actors and celebrities, including Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Rima Kallingal, Aashiq Abu, Ranjith Shankar, Alphonse Putharen, Jude Anthany Joseph, and Renjini Haridas have taken up the challenge.