India: Pradeep Mehra is the Internet's new favourite after his viral midnight run video

Social media's latest sensation Pradeep Mehra has been trending in India for the last two days ever since filmmaker and author Vinod Kapri posted a video of the 19-year-old McDonald employee running on roads of Noida at midnight.

Vinod Kapri was driving in Noida near Delhi around midnight on Sunday when he saw a young man with a backpack running on a road. Kapri had tweeted, "This is pure gold," and posted a video of the running boy, which has drawn over 10 million views.

The two-minute video is about Pradeep, who works at a McDonald’s in Noida’s sector 16 and runs back 10km to his home every midnight.

Kapri offered to give the youth a ride back home, but he refused, saying he loves running as it was the only opportunity he had to train for the army. Asked why did he not run in the morning, the lad told Kapri that he has to cook at home before joining the 8am shift.

His mother is in a hospital and he was staying with his elder brother in Noida. He had to go home and cook for the two of them. “Why can’t your elder brother cook?” asked Kapri, who drove alongside the running youth. Pradeep told him that his brother was working night shift.

When offered a ride and even dinner, the ever-smiling Pradeep told him it would disrupt his daily running routine. The next day, the persistent Kapri popped up outside Pradeep’s workplace and asked him about the huge response he had on social media. When asked what message he would like to give, Pradeep said: “The world bows before those who work hard.”

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Pradeep’s amazing work have been praised by many on social media. Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister of Delhi tweeted that he could watch the video countless times and still not be content. He felt that political leaders and top officials might be dwarfed by the tenacity of the youth.

A Punjab army training academy has offered free training to Pradeep.

• India