Hats Off to NDTV and Amitabh Bachhan:hatsoff!! Kudos to Prannoy Roy and Vikram Chandra:bowdown! The 12-hour telethon on December 12, Sunday was a huge success:thumbsup. The telethon was to support the “Save Our Tigers” campaign and has managed to generate contributions of over 4.86 crore rupees:thumbsup. Campaign ambassador Big B, 68, sat for a little over 12 hours along with Prannoy and VikramBow. Roy and Chandra highlighted the key issues of tiger conservation and Big B admitted that he learnt a lot over the course of the telethon. Big B donated 28 lakh rupees while investment banker Hemendra Kothari donated 2.43 crore rupees. Bow:whistle
Amitabh Bachchan has also auctioned his Cartier watch and two pairs of designer glasses that have raised another Rs 845000. "A year back when this campaign started, I felt honoured to be a part of it; and today I can see the efforts over the year bear fruit. The donations from this 12-hour telethon would be of immense help in providing the infrastructure required for consistent operations and activities in tiger conservation," Bachchan has said in a press statement. The students of Chirec School in Hyderabad have also raised 22,000 rupees for contributing to this campaign.:cheers Bhaichung Bhutia, Manish Malhotra, Abhishek Bachchan and Diya Mirza are some of the other celebrities who did their bit.:thumbsup
A trait that is common to both Amitabh Bachchan and Prannoy Roy – they leave no stone unturned in whatever project they lend hands to:thumbsup. This trait is an indicator of the no-nonsense generation that they belong to, as Roy pointed out at the end of the telethon on Sunday. Big B sat in front of the TV cameras for hours:bowdown. The telethon was taking place right in the heart of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The telethon was an effort to bring about awareness to save our tigers from complete extinction. Presently, the big cats are facing the danger of an absolute wipe out from our planet.
It was a huge feat achieved by NDTV, Prannoy Roy, Amitabh Bachhan, Vikram Chanda and Airtel. Many political figures felt motivated to come in and lend their support. There were discussions and a strategic plan is expected to be soon formed with top politicians to meet in the next few months to bring a change in the changing environmental patterns, thereby trying to promote greenery to help the Big Cats mutiply in their natural habitat.:thumbsup With the contributions coming in from different corners, an astounding sum of 4,86,68,932 INR was collected during the 12-hour live program. Shankar Ehsaan Loy came in to lend their support and there was live singing in the show which added attraction to the show for a great cause.:cheers