HYDERABAD: Messiahs are people who help the ones in need. During these testing times, we have Tollywood actors who have stepped up and are coming forward to help Covid-affected families. Several Tollywood stars have collaborated with a city-based NGO for a one-of-a-kind initiative called ‘Silent Auction’. The brainchild of Sandeep Gudi, founder of NGO V-Care Foundation, and Saadhya, Silent Auction was started way back in 2014 when V-Care was setting up orphanages.
Sandeep, a music concert host by profession, says, “In 2014, we reached out to some celebrities, a couple of them had helped us by donating their memorabilia. We were able to sell those and raise funds for the orphans. Now, the pandemic has deprived many families of their breadwinners and people have lost their jobs. We want to help them by raising funds. So, we thought of taking the idea of Silent Auction forward and approached a new set of celebrities, who fortunately have given us their memorabilia.”
On August 1, the NGO will launch a website for the initiative. The website will exclusively be all about the actors who have come forward and donated their memorabilia for a good cause. “We are currently getting messages from people asking if we have any kind of memorabilia from their favourite actors. They want to buy their belongings. At the end of the day, we want people to know how and why the actors have come forward to help the needy,” he adds, stating that t-shirts, watches, jackets and many more are up for auction.
In an auction held in in 2014, actor Lakshmi Rai donated some of her belongings. The NGO had tried contacting some actors on Twitter and Lakshmi responded promptly. She had also posted about it, after which one of her fans contacted the NGO. He purchased a t-shirt signed by her for `1 lakh, and the proceeds were used to renovate one of the orphanages.
Recently during the pandemic, Nene Raja Nene Mantri actor Rana Daggubati had given one of his jackets for the auction. The jacket was purchased by one of his fans for Rs 48,000, who also wanted to help a Covid-affected family.
According to Sandeep, actor Navdeep has been a constant support. Recently, he donated two blazers. But this is not all. One of the most loved Tollywood movies, Jathi Ratnalu’s production team donated six shirts of the three lead male actors. Actor Sharwanand had donated few of his tees, watches and goggles too. The NGO is waiting for its website to go up, after which it will upload more memorabilia of actors including Pawan Kalyan’s muffler which he wore in Komaram Puli.