Malappuram (Kerala): Nine-year-old Mohammed Faiz's paper flower making video had taken the internet by storm, not for the flower he made, but for the astonishingly positive words and unflinching attitude. Milma, Kerala's cooperative milk marketing federation, went on to use his one-liner for their ad in no time.
Faiz's naive nature and unperturbed words - in his video clip on 'How to make a paper flower' after he made mistakes in the cuts on paper, have been doing the rounds across social media platforms as 'the best motivational words' ever heard. "Some will get it right. Some won't. I didn't. But that is not a problem at all," he said in the video. Many shared the video on social media, calling the nine-year-old a 'motivator'.
The video was made on his mother's mobile phone for his father who works abroad, and some other friends.
In the video, after addressing the viewers as friends, Faiz explains the things needed for the papercraft and elaborates each step of the craft in a very naive and innocent manner, in a typical Malappuram dialect of Malayalam. While the video was shot carefully, he folded the paper and made the cuts, but erred somewhere in the process. Finally, as he opened the folded paper sincerely expecting to show a paper flower to his viewers, it didn't turn out to be one.
Unperturbed by the result, he said, "Chelordu ready aavum, chelordhu ready aavulla... Indethu ready aayilla... Njammakku Koyappallya [For some people, it will be ready (come out well). For some people, it won't. Mine did not. But we have no problem at all]."
This statement from him, accepting a mistake and but still viewing it positively, won the internet.
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Faiz, a class four student from Kuzhimanna, subsequently got featured on Milma ad and even on the COVID awareness campaign posters, with slight tweaks to his statements. He also feature on numerous WhatsApp statuses, spreading positivity in this hour of crisis.
However, when Milma used Faiz's innocence for their advertisement and promotion campaign, it erupted into a controversy. There were demands that Faiz must be given a royalty.
Soon, officials from the Milma office in Kozhikode reached out to Faiz with many gifts and prizes. Faiz got a Smart TV, and a cash prize of Rs 10,000, perhaps his 'royalty fee', and a kit with Milma dairy products. Vinod, Kondotty Sub Inspector of Police, who joined the team to give the prizes, said Faiz was their pride.
Thanking everyone who gave him prizes, Faiz said he wants to contribute a part of his prize money towards the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund.
Faiz's sister Swalih said her little brother's wish is to upload a video of him making a paper flower. He wants to have a YouTube channel and make many more videos.
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