Akshay Kumar donates Rs. 3, 60,000 to YODA at an exhibition organised by Varsha Taurani!
A special sale of garments was held on
Saturday, 2nd August. The clothes were worn by the stars of the movie
Entertainment in support of Youth Organization in Defence of Animals
(YODA) organized by Varsha Taurani.
Starring Akshay Kumar and a gorgeous Golden Retriever who plays the title role in Entertainment,
this year’s August release by Tips Industries doesn’t just promise to
be a mega entertainer, but is also contributing to the cause of our
loyal furry friends! An event full of fashion, fun and lots of love, the
2nd Shop with Heart sale presented one the wardrobe of the stars from Entertainment (Akshay
Kumar, Tamannaah, Sonu Sood, Krushna Abhishek & Prakash Raaj) along
with personal pieces from Akshay Kumar, the lovely Twinkle Khanna, and
Varsha and Ramesh Taurani.
Akshay
and Tamannah were most clearly the star of the show at this exhibition!
They both arrived on time as usual, and spoke about their warm
association with YODA and connection to Entertainment! The highlight of
the event was Akshay bought a Burberry jacket from the exhibition for
Rs. 1,00,000 but he paid Rs. 3,60,000 for the same thereby generously
donating the rest to YODA!
Akshay
affirmed that, "People help stray dogs for a few days and then forget
about it. It is noble charities like YODA which are dedicated to helping
animals throughout the year. It gives me a lot of happiness to know
that the clothes worn in the movie by all of us will not go to waste, as
they will be sold and the proceeds will all go to YODA. It is a good
initiative to ensure that every resource is made useful. I hope all
actors will do this and help other NGOs as well." Akshay also spoke
about the importance of doing an empty genre like animal based movies
and compared Bollywood to Hollywood which has many animal based films
such as Planet of the Apes releasing this year! He was visibly very
excited that Entertainment has created a positive buzz with its
connection to man's best friend, dogs!
Tamannah
Bhatia, lead actress of Entertainment said that, "I am very happy to be
associated with YODA. I have now decided that all the clothes I wear in
the movies will be sold in such a manner and I will give the proceeds
to charities like YODA. I will do this for every film!
In
a first of its kind initiative, this Bollywood and fashion
collaboration created a platform to help the cause of the animals that
have featured in the film. Entertainment joined hands with Shop
with Heart founded in 2013 by two friends - Varsha Taurani of Tips
Industries & Shanti Sivaram of Bling Entertainment Solutions, in
collaboration with Rachana Nakra of Fuffabulous. Shop with Heart aimed
to bring one a sale of the finest pre-owned fashion at accessible prices
with all of the proceeds going to a charitable cause. The first sale
event raised funds for In Defence of Animals (IDA), which was used to
conduct repair work at their Deonar centre.
All the proceeds went to the non-profit animal welfare group YODA (Youth Organization in Defence of Animals). YODA was
born out of the minds of 5 young visionaries who were newly exposed to
the harsh realities of how animals are treated in India. In particular,
animal mills, where the female species are bred over and over until
death to produce puppies for monetary gain. 99 percent of the commercial
breeders in this country are full-fledged puppy mills. YODA’s method of
working towards reducing the number of puppy mills is via adoption,
direct action and education. They want to gently alter the Indian
mindset towards animals and hope to make our country a safe place for them one day.
