Bollywood’s young and charitable

Some new-age Samaritans discreetly go about sharing their hard-earned earnings with charitable organisations

Bollywood's young and charitable

Some new-age Samaritans discreetly go about sharing their hard-earned earnings with charitable organisations

There is a side to Prateik that is little known. The actor, who will be seen in UTV Motion Picture's My Friend Pinto is a true friend of old people and street kids.

The do-gooder donates a part of his earnings from films to charities. And what more, he doesn't like blowing his own trumpet.

A family friend of the young actor on condition of anonymity confirms, "Yes, Prateik has been doing charity for many years now, much before he entered the industry and started acting in the movies. He started from the age of 18, when he was still a young boy assisting ad man Pralhad Kakkar.

He donates a percentage of his salary to the charities. Earlier it used to be what he earned from his assisting jobs and now it's a percentage of his film remuneration. His donations go to multiple charities for aged people or street and orphan kids."

The source adds, "Prateik has a soft corner for aged people and street kids. He always wanted to do something for them.

There is this sensitive side to him that is not known to the world. He was very close to his maternal grandmother, late Smita Patil's mom. He does charity for his own happiness and likes to keep mum about it. He doesn't want it to be a publicity gimmick like others."

u00a0Reportedly, he also wore and sent tees with logo 'My Friend Anna' to Anna Hazaare to show his support.
As expected, Prateik remained unavailable for comment.

Other charitable guns

Abhay Deol
Abhay vouches for four NGO's, Video Volunteers, Butterflies, The Climate Project and Wildlife SOS. The actor found Butterflies on the internet. "They do children development banking. They basically encourage street kids to put aside a little bit of their daily earnings into a bank and earn monthly interest. They also have mobile schools. So they actually drive to where the kids are."

Ranbir Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor was part of the NDTV Toyota Greenathon 2010 that helped raise money to provide solar power to 160 villages across the nation. He sponsored solar lamps in the Lakhisarai, a village in Bihar, as part of the initiative. A lot more economical and less polluting than kerosene lamps, solar lamps not only help students to study in the evening and women to work in well-lit kitchens but they also aid small scale workers to earn more as they can work late hours.

Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif is probably one of the few Bollywood stars to initiate brands into tying up with charitable trusts. In fact, a diamond brand has just tied up and donated a whopping amount towards the cause of her mother's charitable trust, Relief Projects India (RPI). RPI has collaborated with The Claretian Educational and Social Services Society to rescue unwanted and abandoned baby girls. They are also actively involved in preventing infanticide and improving health of expectant mothers and babies.

Kajal Aggarwal, Singham actress Kajal Aggarwal has believed in giving back to the society since her college days. Not many people know that as a college student she used to teach at the Akansha foundation. Whenever she has free time on hand, she teaches her house help and people around her.u00a0

John Abraham
Jacqueline Fernandes and R Madhavan strongly support NGO Habitat For Humanity India, that runs a campaign for affordable housing. While Mika donates to Divine Help that educates children and destitute women.