Katrina Kaif helps Bollywood dancers earn a living during corona crisis

Katrina Kaif. Picture/PR

Katrina Kaif is the first actress who has come out and supported the Bollywood background dancers. Katrina Kaif has helped 100 dancers by directly transferring money into their account. And it is noteworthy to know that there are quite a few dancers who are utilising the amount transferred by the actress to stand on their own feet and also sustain themselves till they get back on the sets.

Some dancers have used the money as the principal amount to start small businesses like selling vegetables, eggs and snacks counters on the roadside, and tiffin service. Raj Surani of Octopus Entertainment, who has been motivating the dancers to become self-reliant in these trying times, said that he is grateful to Katrina Kaif who has come forward to help the dancers. He said, "The dancers have utilised the money transferred by Katrina to start small businesses like tiffin services, beauty services and selling homemade chocolates."

A senior dancer, Hetal, travels all the way to the APMC market to buy vegetables and has started selling it online to residential societies. Hetal says, "I am taking the risk of my life as I leave at 3 am in the morning leaving my children alone to buy vegetables and then come back and sell vegetables to locals."

Inspiration is contagious. Encouraged by Surani, these dancers have been motivating each other by telling their stories of survival on their WhatsApp group. When they hear their fellow dancers doing small businesses and jobs to become self-reliant, they, tpo, get inspired to do so.

Surani further says, "Dancers are really motivated to become self-reliant. Dancers will be the last ones to get back on the sets. Last five months have been tough on them as they are daily wagers with no other source of earning. Thanks to actors like Katrina Kaif, dancers are taking up alternate professions to survive during this corona crisis. There are some who work in call centres, whereas others have started jobs like setting up gym equipment at client's homes/gyms, selling groceries and trading business. We would like more actors and film industry personalities to come forward and help them."

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