Stars power social causes
Celebrities from diverse fields have come forward and helped raise funds for various causes
By : nivi shrivastava
Update: 2014-11-04 01:03 GMT
Hyderabad:
Festive season is usually accompanied with the joy of giving, and at this time of the year many known artists from music, films and art fraternity have come forward to show their support for various causes. For some celebrities, rising up to occasions like these is the need of hour, while others feel it is their way of giving back to the society.
Recently, actor Abhay Deol announced on a social networking platform that he will be in San Jose on October 31 for a “Bolloween” party to help the organisers raise funds for the victims of the flood in Kashmir. Recently, a musical concert and movie screening was organised in the capital to help raise money for the eradication of curable blindness. The musical concert featuring singers Sunidhi Chauhan and Kailash Kher in association with the Gurgaon Police and Mahindru Foundation also saw the presence of actors such as Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen, who spoke about the cause.
Singer Kailash Kher, who participates in many charity-based concerts from time to time, mentions that it’s his passion (junoon) and interest to contribute to the society.
Kailash says, “I personally do a thorough research and groundwork about the NGOs I support, and if their work is really great then I don’t even charge for the shows.”
Kailash further adds, “Out of the 70-80 concerts that I do every year, around 25 concerts are done for spreading social awareness. I also plan to start my own educational trust, where I want to reach out to people who cannot afford a training in education and art.”
This year, many celebrities came forward to raise money for those affected by floods in Kashmir and other parts of country.
Renowned musician Abhay Rustum Sopori, who organised series of concerts for Kashmir in Delhi, mentions that event was planned in three parts where young as well as veteran musicians from classical music fraternity participated.
He says, “Our first concert on September 23 was a huge success, after that the other two events were also used as a platform to raise awareness about the problems that people in
Kashmir were facing after the deluge. We collected around Rs 75 lakh for the fund. We created a platform to spread awareness about the plight of flood-affected people in Kashmir, Northeast India and cyclone affected areas of South. As winters are approaching it will be very difficult for these people to sustain the harsh climate, so we urged people to donate and help the victims.”
Similarly, rock band Parikrama is on an all-India tour to support the “Play for a cause” initiative. Subir Malik of Parikrama informs, “We wanted to do something for the underprivileged kids and this tour was an initiative started by 100 Pipers to collect money for feeding the poor. A basic meal for a kid costs very little, and our aim is to raise money for at least 50,000 children who cannot afford to buy food. This tour will travel to 15 cities and we have already reached our target amount in the first leg of our programme.”
When a celebrity with a certain brand image and stature gets involved in any cause or charity, it automatically gets a lot of attention from the public.
Virendra Kumar Goel of AAS NGO, says, “Our organisation works for cervical cancer patients, and this year when we organised a concert in Delhi that involved artists from Indian and Pakistan, we got a very good response from the public. Concerts with celebrities are great crowd pullers. Even though the process of involving a celebrity is quite challenging, but the end result is worth the attention that we get from our target audience.”