Coronavirus update: Rajinikanth answers FEFSI appeal with Rs50 lakh donation 

Tamil actors Rajinikanth, Suriya, Sivakarthikeyan and Vijay Sethupathi have donated a sum of Rs80 lakh towards the welfare of the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) following the coronavirus outbreak.

While actor Rajinikanth has donated Rs50 lakh, Suriya, Sivakarthikeyan and Vijay have contributed Rs10 lakh each.

These actors have come forward with financial aid after FEFSI union president RK Selvamani released a statement requesting members of the Tamil film fraternity to support the daily wage workers of the union, who are currently jobless as shooting of Tamil films has been suspended till 31 March.

In the statement, Selvamani said: “As we are aware, the Tamil film world has been crippled by coronavirus that is currently threatening the entire world. In the 50 years since the inception of the union, the film industry has faced various strikes; protests were held against the producers demanding pay rises and demands from the government, but nothing of this scale. The ongoing lock-down is very different.”

The statement further added that the union needs to raise a minimum of Rs1 crore to support its members by giving rice bags. FEFSI consists of 23 unions belonging to different trades in the film and television industry and has around 25,000 members.

Suriya, along with his father Sivakumar and brother Karthi, was the first actor to come forward to support the FEFSI workers. He donated Rs10 lakh and his gesture immediately inspired his colleagues, Sivakarthikeyan and Vijay to follow suit.

Actor-filmmaker R Parthiepan has provided 250 bags of rice. Actor-filmmaker Manobala has also donated rice bags to FEFSI workers.

Shooting of several Tamil films had to be stopped following the coronavirus outbreak over the last few weeks. The team of Vikram’s upcoming Tamil film, Cobra had to cancel their schedule abroad and return to India. The shoot of Simbu’s Maanaadu, scheduled to take place in Hyderabad, had to be cancelled.