THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jais Joseph Soji, the the-nine-year old who became famous after writing a school composition titled Puttu breaks relationships during a class revision test, has been approached by half a dozen leading brands that sell rice powder for the Malayalis’ staple breakfast to be their model. But the little one has said ‘No’ to them, much to their disappointment. One of the manufacturers tried to lure the child by claiming that theirs is a soft ‘puttupodi’, but to no avail.
TNIE had reported on March 18 about Jais’ answer to the question ‘The food he hates the most’ during a revision test in his school became viral on social media platforms. It was also shared by actors and others.
Jais has been forced to have ‘puttu’ and ‘pazham’ for breakfast whenever his parents, Soji Joseph and Diya Joseph, both IT engineers in Bengaluru, return from his hometown of Mukkam in Kozhikode with bunches of plaintains. The lad who is a foodie keen on having non-vegetarian food for breakfast like chappati and chicken curry and ‘appam’ and chicken stew would be forced to eat ‘puttu’ and ‘pazham’ for the next two weeks. He vented his frustration by answering how ‘puttu’ breaks relationships.
After his answer went viral, Jais became an overnight star among netizens as well as in his school, SFS Academy, Bengaluru. Much to Jais’ and his parents’ surprise, six leading ‘puttupodi’ makers approached him to be their model.“We told Jais about how these brands have solicited interest in making him a model. But Jais was not interested and said a firm ‘No’. It was his choice and we respect his decision,” Soji told TNIE.
In fact, officials of one of the leading brands visited Jais at his apartment in Electronic City, Bengaluru, hoping to convince him in person. They had come armed with three to four cameras and other paraphernalia hoping to make him the model and shoot the advertisement.
“They told me that their ‘puttupodi’ is very soft. I replied that it’s good. My answer was still the same, I did not want to be a model for any ‘puttupodi’ brand. They returned after recording my interview in a funny way,” said Jais nonchalantly.