Ahead of the grand premiere of his show on Saturday, Salman Khan had introduced the first contestant of Bigg Boss 16 – singer Abdu Rozik.
At the launch event earlier this week, Salman talked about his association with Abdu but did you know about his struggles? Abdu was bullied as a child, so much that he could only get a few years of education.
The 19-year-old singer was born in Tajikistan and has performed with some of the most reputed artists including AR Rahman, French Montana, Will I AM and Redone, over the past two years. Abdu’s initial tryst with fame was during his public spat at a boxing press conference in Moscow with his opponent that amassed over 400 million views worldwide.
Having been diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and rickets at the age of five, Abdu stopped growing. Not only was he bullied and mocked during his teens, but even his teachers refused to give him stationary or books believing it would be all a waste. As a result, he could only get three years of formal education.
Abdu’s classmates would even beat him up on the way home from his school. His family had minimal means of survival and couldn’t afford any medical treatment for his disorder. Unable to read or write, Abdu started to hum his own tunes and write his own lyrics to block out the negativity and started to home school himself.
Talking about the bullying, Abdu had told HT Brunch last month, “I was in school when I realised I was shorter than the other kids. They were nice to me initially, and I also looked so cute. But then my school mates started making fun of me, and I got really sad. In order to fight the bullies, I wanted to show that I was strong. So, I took up boxing.”
Abdu had been singing in the street bazaars of Tajikistan to earn money and provide for his family when IFCM spotted him at the age of 17 and UAE’s royal family’s Yasmine Safia who owns IFCM decided to invest in his talent.
Talking about his Bigg Boss participation, Abdu said in a press statement, “I am excited and nervous but I can’t wait to embark on the next chapter of my life with Bigg Boss 16. Being short and small used to be such a hindrance as people always underestimated my aptitude.
People always bad mouthed me as being the unfortunate child of God and mocked me for my disability throughout my childhood but now look where I have reached today. It’s all thanks to the grace of god, my fans and IFCM.ae who have believed in me when the world didn’t and taught me how to count my blessings every single day.”
He added, “CEO and founder of IFCM Yasmine Safia of Dubai deserves a special mention for putting me in coaching classes for Hindi and English, mentoring my music, sports, acting and dance career and helping me breakthrough in the world performing market. She made me believe in myself and even taught me to count and to understand different currencies as I had been cheated badly in the past .
She always taught me that my condition is a blessing not a curse as I was always told my whole life. With that confidence, I am here today standing tall in mind and spirit and proud to represent a forgotten community. I hope to win the hearts of the people of India with my life story and the people across the world can know the real me and understand that I’ve probably been through the worst already.”