Kollywood star Ajith, who is fondly known as ‘Thala’ by fans, has donated Rs 10 lakh to the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) Union, in order to extend support to workers in the Tamil film industry who are affected by the current lockdown in the state.
Speaking to TNM on Saturday, May 15, RK Selvamani, the president of FEFSI confirmed Ajith’s donation to the organisation. FEFSI recently announced that all work related to production and post-production of movies and television serials has been halted till May 31 in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Earlier, the makers of anthology web series Navarasa, Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan had announced that they will be extending their support to FEFSI workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by donating the entire income generated from Navarasa. The team has distributed prepaid cards to the workers, who will be receiving Rs 1,500 per month on the card for a period of five months,to be utilised at grocery outlets.
Recently, Ajith had donated Rs 25 lakh to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (CMPRF). Amid a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and scarcity of resources such as medicines and hospital beds being reported, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had urged everyone to make donations and enable the government to fight COVID-19.
Other celebrities including actors Suriya, Sivakumar, Karthi and Superstar Rajinikanth’s daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth, who is also a producer- director along with her husband Vishagan Vanagamudi
Notably, Ajith had also made a donation worth Rs 1.25 crore to the PM Cares Fund and Rs 50 lakh to the TN Chief Minister’s Relief Fund last year.
On the work front, actor Ajith Kumar is currently working on the much-awaited upcoming Tamil film Valimai.