Celebrities from the Indian film and music industries, including names like Rana Daggubati, Abhishek Bachchan, Nandita Das, Javed Akhtar and Hariharan, came together to support a telethon to raise funds for flood-hit Kerala.
Some of the other names who lent support to the telethon as a part of the campaign #IndiaForKerala, included Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala, Resul Pookutty, Jimmy Shergill, Aanand L. Rai, Sonakshi Sinha, Mudassar Aziz, Shruti Haasan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
Singers Ankur Tewari, Shaan, Tochi Raina, Kanika Kapoor, Shilpa Rao, Purbayan Chatterjee, Jasbir Jassi and "Indian Idol" participants Nitin Kumar and Renu Nagar also sang and played during the six-hour telethon aimed at helping in rebuilding flooded villages and damaged and destroyed homes in Kerala, read a statement.
The telethon on Sunday had specific goals - to enable the rebuilding of villages in the three worst-affected districts and provide immediate assistance in terms of rehabilitation and food kits to people in the worst affected areas. All donations received will be directed to NGO Plan India.
Also lending support were Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and K.J. Alphons; Rajiv Kumar and Amitabh Kant from Niti Ayog; Chief Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan, Conrad Sangma, N Biren Singh, Raman Singh, Naveen Patnaik and Devendra Fadnavis; as well as Thomas Isaac, Khushbu Sundar, Priya Dutt, Aditya Thackeray and Shashi Tharoor.