Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman and Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan will unite on India’s Independence Day (15) to raise funds for Covid-19 relief work.
Titled "We For India", the event will be streamed on Facebook on August 15 and aims to raise funds for the Covid-19 relief missions of philanthropic platform Give India.
The three-hour videothon will feature more than 100 artists - including filmmakers
Rajkumar Hirani, Imtiaz Ali, Farah Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikram Bhatt and Ribhu Dasgupta.
Several interactions are planned with stars like Ajay Devgn, Akkineni Nagarjuna, R
Madhavan, Farhan Akhtar, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Pratik Gandhi among others.
The show will be hosted by actor Rajkummar Rao.
Reliance Entertainment is producing the event, in partnership with The World We Want (WWW) and supported by GiveIndia.
Namit Sharma, creative producer, Reliance Entertainment, said, "Our effort in putting together this fundraiser has taught us one thing - the world is one, and there is no dearth of goodness and kindness."
In addition to Jagger and Sheeran, international stars and musicians, who will take part in the show, are singer Annie Lennox alongside her daughter Lola Lennox, Africa origin actor Ini Dima-Okojie, Unicef goodwill ambassador Nancy Ajram, co-founder of CHIC, guitarist Nile Rodgers and music group Sister Sledge ft Sledgendary.
Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, dance maestros Prabhudeva and Remo De Suza, musicians Shankar Mahadevan, Usha Uthup, Pandit Bikram Ghosh, Mithoon, Amit Trivedi, Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani, Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant, Swanand Kirkire, Shantanu Moitra, Kanika Kapoor, Lisa Mishra will also perform.
Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupati will also be a participant. Besides, the show will also feature medical professionals who will share their experiences and urgent requirements to keep India safe.
Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Sonakshi Sinha, Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh, Malaika Arora, Dia Mirza, Kalki Koechlin, Sanya Malhotra, Ananya Panday and Alaya F will also feature on the videothon.
Proceeds from the event will fund oxygen concentrators, cylinders, ventilators, and essential medicines as well as ICU units.
Funds will also go towards supporting the staffing of vaccination centres. Meal and ration kits will also be provided to the rural and urban families hit financially by the pandemic.
Cash relief will be provided to families who have lost an immediate member.
Damian Talbot
Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at the India-UK Investor Roundtable in London last Wednesday (9). On the panel were India’s department of economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth and Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak
Sitharaman with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves
Sitharaman with Jonathan Reynolds 
Sitharaman with Reynolds, Alastair King, India’s high commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and other delegates