Bollywood glamour was on full display at the official residence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday as top film and television personalities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Kangana Ranaut, attended an event organised to discuss initiatives to mark the150th birth anniversary of India’s Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.
Modi hosted the film and television personalities to launch his new initiative ‘Change Within’. Among others present on the occasion were Sonam Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sonu Nigam, Ekta Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Karan Johar, Aanand L Rai, Rajkumar Hirani, Kapil Sharma, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu and Boney Kapoor.
The Indian PMO’s official Twitter handle shared a lot of photos and videos where Modi and the stars are seen talking about Mahatma Gandhi, his ideals and the initiative. Speaking on the occasion, Modi hailed the Indian entertainment industry for helping popularize the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi through films and other creative mediums, according to a statement issued by the Indian Prime Minister's Office on Saturday night.
Later, in an interactive session, the Prime Minister thanked the creative heads and contributors for taking time out of their busy schedule for paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi, at his personal request. Highlighting the impact of Mahatma Gandhi in the present day, Modi said “if there is one thought, one person, who can establish a connect with people all over the world, it is Gandhiji.”
The Indian Prime Minister outlined that India is going to celebrate the 75th anniversary its independence in 2022. In this regard, he urged the gathering to showcase inspiring stories of India’sfreedom struggle from 1857 to 1947 and India’s growth story from 1947 to 2022. Actor Aamir Khan thanked the Prime Minister for igniting the idea of contributing towards the cause of propagation of Mahatma Gandhi’s message to the world.
Thanking the Prime Minister for creating a platform for all the film fraternity to come together and work towards a cause, Shah Rukh Khan said such initiatives will re-introduce the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi by presenting Gandhi 2.0 to the whole world. Rajkumar Hirani, who directed films like ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ to propagate Gandhi’s principle of non-violence , pointed out that the video released on Saturday is one of many coming out with the theme of ‘Change Within’.
