Charity or cheap publicity?

Whatever happened to poor forgotten Bharat Rangachary���s kids? Once an assistant to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Bharat made a couple of films before he suddenly died of cancer at an age when most of us had just begun to discover ourselves.
The entertainment industry, which is one big family, remember, swore to take care of his young distraught wife. Right! Just as they took care of Parveen Babi after she fell ill.Mrs Rangachary soon committed suicide. The world moved on to the next reality show.
The film industry is filled with large hearts. Didn���t you see Priyanka Chopra dancing with the lovely little singers on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa? I felt like hugging her for embracing innocence. And when Farah Khan gave out a princely sum of Rs 1 lakh to that athlete on a wheelchair who couldn���t move. It wasn���t because he got emotional at the televised windfall which he clutched in his trembling hands. Genelia who was Farah���s guest that evening wiped a few tears. Shahid consoled her. We moved on to the next episode. The next chapter in the shameful saga of how celebrities milk the common man���s emotions.
Very often we read of celebrities offering to help the homeless and hopeless. Even rescuing a cat from the street or helping a lady find a parking place in an apartment building makes big news.
How do television cameras reach these people before the charitable gestures reaches victim? What is Rs 1 lakh to an actor who earns Rs 15-30 crores? If I earned that kind of money and gave so little, I���d be quiet.
Mnay stars are shamefully tight-fisted. Many of them even think twice before using their Indian cellphones abroad. A huge burden on a man from the middleclass. But a star who earns Rs 30 crores for every film? You���ve got to be kidding!
Some years back, when a Bollywood diva was doing her last film before marrying and settling abroad (that finally immortalised her) she found herself in a situation where the director was unable to pay his cast because the producer was in trouble. Everyone else understood his plight. But not this diva. On the first day of the last schedule she went and locked herself in her van (blessedly alone) and sent the harassed director a message she would shoot only when she was paid. What a piddly amount that must have been compared with her loss of dignity!
Not all superstars are so tight-fisted and mean-and-money minded. Salman and Shah Rukh Khan have done numerous films free for friends. Bollywood���s greatest icons Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan have repeatedly worked for free. Neither Mr B nor Rani charged any money for their landmark collaboration in Black. This, I didn���t know until the film was complete and released. And of course, neither actor told me. I was horrified that the producers hadn���t paid them in spite of the film���s success.
One reason why celebrities shy away from charity is that there is a risk of their philanthrophy being taken for granted. It is beyond me how acts of kindness can be cheapened by publicity. And that too for such paltry sums that seem like cruel jokes rather than charitable gestures.