Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 4, 2020)

Every morning, when she wakes up, Farah Khan doesn’t have just her family or loved ones on her mind but also many others, who “are going through unimaginable situations” during the Coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing lockdown. “I have a simple mantra: I must do one good deed every day,” says the 55-year-old filmmaker.

Be it getting sanitary napkins for lady cops, arranging for masks and groceries, distributing water bottles among migrant labourers, helping a lady in Chennai who takes care of street dogs (after reading a story in HT City/Café’s special section Six Shots of Life) or now, “initiating the process of sponsoring” the education of Jyoti Kumari Paswan (the 15-year-old girl who cycled with her father from Gurugram to Bihar’s Darbhanga), Khan has been at it, without break.

“Not just me, there are so many people who want to do good work but don’t know how to do it. But at the same time, I am so proud of my friends such as Sonu Sood (actor), Vikas Khanna (chef) and even Shah Rukh (Khan; actor) — who is doing amazing work through Meer Foundation,” says the Main Hoon Na (2004) director, whose 12-year-old daughter, Anya, has raised ₹3 lakh through her sketches. “Till date, Anya — who is an animal lover — has done about 150 sketches. It’s nominally priced at ₹1,000 per sketch, but people have paid more as well,” she says.

The money has been used to buy groceries for people in slum pockets of areas such as Thane, Kalyan and Juhu Galli in Mumbai. The lady in Chennai was also helped through Anya’s sketch money.

Reportedly, politician and environmentalist Maneka Gandhi even wrote a mail to Khan, expressing how she was “very impressed” by Anya’s work. Ask the filmmaker about it, and she says, “I’ll continue to do whatever is within my capacity. I lived through a poor childhood. Probably, that’s why I’m empathetic towards people, especially the poor. I’ve worked very hard — and also had God’s blessings — to reach where I am today. So, the idea should be to give back to the needy when you have enough.”