By IANS,
New Delhi : Social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign attracted people from all walks of life and the members of Indian film industry were not far behind. From Southern stars like Rajnikanth and Nagarjuna to Bollywood celebrities like Aamir Khan and Om Puri — all came out to extend their support to the campaign.
Hazare began his fast Aug 16 and broke it Sunday morning after parliament Saturday agreed to three key demands of his civil society group to battle corruption.
If students and professionals showed their solidarity towards the anti-corruption movement, so did the celebrities from the film industry.
Superstar Aamir Khan and director Rajkumar Hirani flew down to Delhi Saturday to pledge their support to the Jan Lokpal bill framed by Hazare and his team. The actor sat next to Anna through the day and even broke his fast (roza) at the Ramlila ground.
Aamir had expressed concerned about Anna’s health and urged him to end fast, saying: “I would like to request to Annaji to bring an end to his fast. We are all very worried about him. It has been 12 days. The bill will take time and it should undergo the process, a lot of debates will have to take place… and they are mandatory.”
A day before, actor Om Puri visited Ramlila Ground. The 60-year-old-actor, know for his roles in films like “Ardh Satya”, “Hera Pheri”, said the struggle does not end here as the people of the country also have electoral reforms to fight for.
The father-daughter duo of Kabir and Pooja Bedi along with singers Kailash Kher and Sonu Nigam also visited the Ramlila ground.
Kailash provided entertainment by singing the song “Ambar tak yahi naara gunjega”, which he had composed specially for Anna.
Actor Raghuvir Yadav also joined Anna at the Ramlila Maidan. Bhojpuri actor and singer Manoj Tiwari was also seen there.
Mumbai’s Azad Maidan also saw a number of celebrities coming out in support of the 74year-old activist’s struggle. The gathering saw participation from Vishal Dadlani of musical duo Vishal and Shekhar, actor Purab Kohli, producer-actor Raghu Ram, Celina Jaitly and Shreyas Talpade.
Other celebs like Bipasha Basu and Shekhar Kapur chose to show their support through social networking sites.
The Anna wave not only gripped Bollywood but also southern film industry.
Telugu film industry members took out a rally and observed a day-long fast in Hyderabad to express their solidarity for Anna. Eminent filmmaker and former union minister Dasari Narayana Rao, actor couple Jeevitha and Rajasekhar, actor Babu Mohan and others participated in it.
Kannada superstars Vijay Raghavendra, Srinagara Kitty, Shivaraj Kumar, Ganesh and veteran actor Master Hirannaia Vijay came together and took out another anti-corruption rally in support of Anna in Bangalore.
South Indian celebrities also took to social networking sites to show their support. Among them were Nagarjuna, director Ramesh Arvind, actress Ramya, pop singer and actress Smitha and Kannada singer Chaithra.