City artistes go live to raise funds for elderly

Several Chennai-based artistes, including actors Arya and Andrea Jeremiah, have been raising funds for the less-privileged elderly during the COVID-19 crisis.As part of #PlayItForward, an initiative started by pianist Anil Srinivasan, every day, celebs from different fields go live on their respective social media handles, interacting with fans and performing for them. “The idea is, one person does a session and then nominates another celebrity to do the same,” says Anil, who started the series with a digital concert on March 25.Other artistes who have performed already include actor Prasanna, Carnatic musician Sikkil Gurucharan, lyricist Madhan Karky, storytellerJanaki Sabesh, singer Shakthisree Gopalan, and musicians Stephen Devassy and Vedanth Bharadwaj. “Unnikrishnan and Mandolin Rajesh will be performing in the coming days,” Anil informs us.So, how does the campaign work? He answers, “When people log in to watch these artistes go live, they can pay via a link that we have provided on the page. The funds raised are being used to support Bhoomika, a Chennai-based trust that has been working for less-privileged elderly. So far, we’ve collected around `8 lakh, and are looking to reach our goal of raising `10 lakh in a couple of weeks.”