Aditya Chopra donates YRF 50 celebration budget to COVID-19 aid

Mumbai: Filmmaker Aditya Chopra is giving the entire budget of Yash Raj Films (YRF) 50 years celebration to aid the industry and daily-wage earners, at a time when the country is battling with the deadly second wave of COVID-19.

YRF completed 50 years in 2020, and Chopra had plans to celebrate the milestone event globally. With the second wave of the pandemic shutting down the film industry again, he has decided to give the YRF 50 budget for the cause.

The production powerhouse is also starting a new initiative that will see their foundation provide cooked meals to thousands of frontline workers in Goregaon and also feed people at quarantine centres in Andheri, from the YRF Studios kitchen.

The latest decision follows Chopra's launching the Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative last week, aimed at providing financial support to thousands of film industry workers.

"YRF will not be celebrating its 50th year even if things return to normalcy later, as Aditya Chopra has decided to divert this entire fund for Covid relief work. He is clear that the funds need to be used on an urgent basis to restart the industry first, as it has been hit the hardest because of the virus," said a trade source.

The source added that Aditya only wants to concentrate towards helping the industry and the fraternity that has been a support system to YRF for the last 50 years too.

As part of the initiative, the Yash Raj foundation will oversee direct benefit transfers of Rs 5000 to women and senior citizens in the industry, as well as distribute ration kits to workers for a family of four for one month, through their NGO partner Youth Feed India.

Recently, YRF wrote to the Maharashtra Chief Minister asking if they could purchase vaccines for the 30,000 registered workers of the film industry. YRF added it would cover all expenses related to workers getting vaccinated.