Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 2, 2020)

Our favourite stars may have often been in the line of fire for their unwillingness to take a stand on pressing issues, but Bollywood has stood strong and united in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, lending a helping hand to those in need. In the 10 days since the campaign, I Stand With Humanity, was announced on social media, it has become a movement of sorts with several celebrities contributing generously, thus enabling the supply of essentials to one million homes.

Author and screenwriter Pankaj Dubey, who is the official spokesperson for the campaign that has nearly 15,000 volunteers, tells mid-day, "The initiative was started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Rajkumar Hirani and Mahaveer Jain, but soon bigwigs like Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Rohit Shetty, Dinesh Vijan, and many others joined in. We have reached out to over one million families in the past seven days."

Explaining their course of action, he shares, "The account details have been shared on social media, and stars and the common people have been donating money. Using the funds, we have been distributing ration kits that contain about 10 to 15 days' food. We have also supplied these kits to daily wage workers across the country, including one lakh of them from Bollywood. Our volunteers are going door-to-door supplying the essentials." Dubey says the organisation has tied up with local authorities to enable smooth functioning. "In Mumbai, we have tied up with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation [BMC]. The volunteers have been identified by them, and only they are allowed to be out and about."

Currently functioning across six states and Delhi, the initiative aims to reach out to other pockets of the country in the coming days. "We are active in Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh."