Hyderabad celebrities will raise funds for affected people of Kashmir floods

Hyderabad: Besides making direct donations and calling on their fans to step up and help, celebrities from across the spectrum are coming together for a pan India event that will raise funds for Kashmir.

On October 18, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai will host simultaneous events involving stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor.

The Hyderabad edition will see musicians like Shivamani and Leslie Lewis kick up a storm while Sonakshi Sinha, Shriya Saran and Meenakshi Dixit will amp up the glam quotient.

The four-city event also marks a first of its kind initiative for the seven-year-old Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) a collective of all the organisations involved in events.

Sagar Pingali, vice president, South India, EEMA explains, “There is no target as such with the October 18 event. We will be directing all the funds to our philanthropy partner United Way. So even after the event is over, when the show is aired on TV or is uploaded online, there will be an announcement to the viewers on how they can donate. So it will be an ongoing process.”

Well aware that the Vizag devastation is closer home and most Tollywood biggies are busy with organising relief at the port city, EEMA has already begun to work on how to direct funds to Vizag.

Meanwhile, there are several other smaller events planned with stars from other fields. “We have asked sportspersons to donate a bat or a hockey stick, which could be auctioned for the cause,” says Sagar.