Bollywood Stinginess

[Guest guest]

Bollywood`s silence on tsunami

 

By Vijay Rana, 05/01/2005

 

If the reports that Bollywood's top stars like Amitabh Bachchan and

Amir Khan charge millions of rupees for acting in a film are true isn

't it amazing that none of them so far has declared a big personal,

I insist on the word personal, donation to the tsunami victims. And

it will be unfair to focus on these two alone. We are yet to hear of

a big personal contribution from any of Bollywood's mega stars.

 

It's almost ten days now. The whole world is moved by this

unprecedented human tragedy. In Britain and in many other parts of

the world, celebrities have made large personal contributions,

cancelled New Year parties and have made appeals on national

television asking people to dig deep into their pockets. As a result

an unprecedented wave of public sympathy has been created for

tsunami victims.

 

So far (Wednesday afternoon) the British public has generously

donated more then ?9 million. At one stage people were donating at

the rate of one million Pounds per hour. And the total figure is

expected to reach more than ?00 million.

 

Similarly in India, cricketers, doctors, teachers have donated

generously. Housewives have given money from monthly kitties; school

children have opened to their piggy banks to help alleviate the

sufferings of the tsunami victims.

 

Ordinary citizen have done their bit but what about the privileged

and pampered celebrities of Bollywood. How much money have they

forked out to help tsunami victims?

 

Have you heard so far how much the greatest star of the millennium

Amitabh Bachchan has donated form his pocket? What has the romantic

heart-throb Aamir Khan done for tsunami victims? How much money

Hritik Roshan or Salman Khan have given? What is the contribution of

the likes of Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan or Sunil Shetty? And what

about the leading ladies like Kareena and Preeti Zinta?

 

We have yet to hear from the keepers of Bollywood's moral

conscience, people like Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhter and Mahesh Bhatt.

Come on Javed; come on Shabana, with the spectre of Hindu Fascism

gone and the rule of BJP rolled back, it is time to champion a new

cause, to do something for Andaman's poor tribals and Tamil Nadu's

devastated fisherman who have nothing to survive upon.

 

In recent years Bollywood has acquired a strong foothold in India's

national parliament. So let's ask our Bollywood politicians ?our

sports minister Sunil Dutt, the champion of social justice Raj

Babbar, the former BJP minister Vinod Khanna, the newly-elected

Congress MP Govinda, the BJP MP Dharmendra and the loud-mouth BJP

flag bearer Shatrughan Sinha ?how much money have you personally

contributed to help millions of unfortunate people who have lost

everything.

 

Maybe I am wrong and I will be happy if I am wrong. Some of these

people may have personally contributed to tsunami disaster fund. If

I may have included their name I must apologise to them. The article

is not about individual stars, it's about the Bollywood community as

a whole and it's indifference to social responsibility.

 

Perhaps the news hasn't reached me here in London about some of the

stars named above making personal contributions. Indian media has

always been obsessed with Bollywood. Even a little sneeze of a

Bollywood star is religiously reported. How come they have missed

the story of a Bollywood star's generosity?

 

For last ten days I have laboriously scoured almost all the major

Indian newspapers on the net. I have carefully searched news wires,

like PTI, Reuters, AP and AFP and made dozens if not hundreds of

searches on Google.

 

The only news of Bollywood's benevolence I could find was that

director Subhash Ghai has donated Rs 2.5 million. Vivek Oberoy has

adopted a disaster-hit village. Sanjay Dutt is planning a charity

concert and actress Poonam Dhillon is collecting funds and basic

necessities at her Bandra shop. And Jaya Bachchan, Sunil Shetty and

Salman Khan have shown interest to contribute to her fundraising

campaign.

 

Raising funds from others, organising charity concerts and asking

people to pay is fine and deserve our praise. But the question is

what are they giving from their own pockets.

 

Some of the stars, in the past, have argued that charity is a highly

personal thing and in true Indian spirit of self-sacrifice they don

't want to publicise it or take any personal credit for it.

 

I am afraid in the present context they are wrong. Tsunami disaster

is the worlds?biggest human tragedy and to alleviate the sufferings

of millions of people we need to maximise our relief effort.

 

Suppose a person of the stature of Amitabh Bachchan comes out with a

well-publicised declaration of a large donation, he may inspire many

others to follow his example. What is wrong in the publicity of a

noble cause?

 

Let's see it from another angle. It's the poor who were hit hardest

by the killer tsunami. Those who lived in shacks, slums and mud

houses were to die first. In their lifetime these were probably the

people who would rush to a nearby cinema to watch the latest

Bollywood movie, first day, first show. Cinema, being the cheapest

means of entertainment in India, provided joy and enlivened their

often strained and struggling lives.

 

They will jostle in the cue at the cinema window or buy a ticket in

black market from their hard earned money for a glimpse of their

favourite stars. Bollywood had always thrived on the affection of

India's poor. Now it's time for every Bollywood star to come out

repay the debt. It's an appeal, not criticism.

 

PS: After initial silence and after this article was written some of

the Bollywood stars have come forward with donations. Shahrukh Khan,

Rani Mukherji and Karan Johan have donated Rs 1.5 crores and

Ashwarya Rai has made a contribution of Rs 5 lacs. Javed Akhter and

Dilip Kumar have made appeals for public donations.

 

Vijay Rana www.historytalking.com

http://www.samachar.com/features/070105-vijay.html