What a wonderful gift Salman Khan has — he can make people laugh, cry, swoon and even stand on their chairs and blow wolf whistles in cinemas.
But his true gift manifests when the camera stops rolling. I interviewed Khan when he visited Dubai in his capacity as brand ambassador of high street retail giant Splash, and we spoke about Being Human — a project that is close to his heart.
Apart from selling hugely successful merchandise, Being Human supports various charitable causes including free eye camps, education assistance and medical aid. Apart from Khan, a growing number of celebrities have started using their star power to stand up for various social causes.
Supporting the girl child, stopping violence against women and education for the underprivileged are causes that celebrities have given a voice to. For as long as I can remember, veteran Shabana Azmi’s NGO Mizwan has helped underprivileged children. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan appealed to parents on national television to take children for their routine polio drops.
Rahul Bose’s involvement with Teach India, Akshara Centre, Breakthrough, and Spastics Society of India is just the tip on the iceberg. Similarly dance guru Shiamak Davar’s Victory Arts Foundation teaches dance to children with special needs using dance as therapy.
Even in the international milieu, celebrity ambassadors are giving back and supporting one or more charitable causes. It’s no secret how involved Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie is in her role as a Special Convoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but apart from that she supports 30 other charities and foundations.
Oprah Winfrey has donated millions to charities and has used her talk show to publicise The Angel Network. Right from Prince William to actors Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock and teen sensation Justin Bieber, celebrities have lent not just their names, but their time and resources to chosen causes.
Being a celebrity ambassador to the United Nations World Food Programme myself, I was surprised and intrigued to read an article recently about whether celebrity involvement is a help or a hindrance.
The writer asked rather rhetorically whether people would actually open their wallets and donate just because their favourite movie star asked them to? That got me thinking — celebrity support not only raises huge amounts of funds, but also helps create a buzz around the event or the cause.
When a person such as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan visits a children’s hospital, apart from the awareness created, wouldn’t it create excitement, provide a boost to the children and their families and help to increase morale amongst care-givers, thus providing one of those money-can’t-buy experiences? Isn’t that reason enough to encourage, support and applaud such initiatives? I would think so, and I definitely hope to see this trend continue.
