Boski Gupta (DNA; April 1, 2014)

Fly with Shah Rukh
Did you ever dream of flying on a private plane? Of course you have. And dreams do turn into reality sometimes. You could be on a private plane. And you could have Shah Rukh Khan seated next to you. A fundraising auction planned by Zarina Screwvala for her foundation Swades will make it possible for two bid winners to share a luxury charter plane with Shah Rukh Khan, when he goes on a promotional tour of his upcoming film Happy New Year.

The actor, who is always ready to support a good cause, and who shares a good equation with Zarina’s husband Ronnie Screwvala (head of UTV-Disney) was more than happy to auction ‘a date with him on a private plane’ when he was approached.Interestingly, the name of the foundation is derived SRK’s one of the most critically acclaimed movie Swades.

SRK’s home production Happy New Year also has many other stars, and if the bidder is lucky, he/she might have other star guests for company on the charter. Like Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood and Deepika Padukone, who might travel with him for the promotion, as that is more often the case.

Dance with Deepika
Okay, so you have envied the guys and girls who get a chance to shake a leg with Deepika Padukone on various TV shows and events etc. Now you can be in the same enviable position. Actually here is an oppourtunity for you to dance with her on the big screen. It doesn’t get better than that. Does it? You can win the chance to dance with her on screen like Shah Rukh does. And in a film starring SRK himself! Yes, you read right. One winner at the Swades auction bid can win the chance to groove with Dips for a song in her upcoming movie Happy New Year.

And that is not all, you will have director Farah Khan choreographing the moves! She has made every top actor and actress in the country dance to her tunes. And now you can have that chance too!

The Swades auction scheduled to take place on April 10, will also see a fashion show by designer Vikram Phadnis with 26 Bollywood and television celebrities who will walk the ramp along with 26 villagers from Raigarh.

Customised artworks by Sunil Padwal, Jaideep Mehrotra and Arzaan Khambatta will also be up for sale. Khambatta will carve 3X3 metal statue for the winner. Zarina calls the artist ‘The man of metal’. He will go to the winner’s home to see where can he place the statue and design it according to the winner’s wishes. Padwal, who hails from Raigarh itself, will create a ‘lifescape’ for the winner’s loved one and dedicate the same to him/her. The proceeds will go into helping these villagers becoming self-reliant.

“We target to empower one million people living in villages and lift them from poverty every five years,” says Zarina, whose foundation Swades works for rural development in the Raigarh district of the state. “The money from the fundraiser will go into the development of 1,000 villages in the district — reaching to 300,000 people — for sanitation, water, health and education benefits. “We have right now a big team of 530 workers — 500 of which work at grass root level,” she adds. Besides fun auctions from Bollywood, the event has many other extraordinary and interesting bids. While Amitabh Bachchan will be the chief guest, filmmaker Karan Johar will host the event.

Padwal says, “With Swades, I could play a small part for the betterment of my home town, Raigarh through my art. Our villages and their people certainly deserve far better for their hard work. It’s an unique idea to personalise my art and capture a ‘lifescape’ to help empower rural India.”

Mehrotra has made only three portraits till now — of Amitabh Bachchan, Shammi Kapoor and Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. You can bid for him to make his fourth portrait yours!

In addition to above, there will be bids for front row seats at one of the world’s most coveted fashion events — The Dior Cruise show May 7. One can also bid to stay with Princess Diya Kumari at City Palace in Jaipur and a memorabilia from her collection. And if the team is lucky, Sussanne Roshan may just agree to style your house under the auction for the fundraiser. “It’s high time that we start helping rural India and bring it on top of our development priority list,” concludes Zarina.