mani ratnam, charity and raavan

Lessons in charity from Mani Ratnam

CHENNAI: His latest project, Raavan/Raavanan may be dividing audience opinions, but at least two Chennai charities have an undivided verdict on the filmmaker himself. Mani Ratnam not only gave prints for screening Raavan and Raavanan to The Banyan and Ability Foundation respectively, his production company, Madras Talkies picked up the tab for the tickets of each premiere show on June 17 at Satyam Cinemas.

This enabled the charities to raise funds against the experience. The Banyan, which works with destitute, mentally ill women, managed to raise more than Rs 1.5 lakh from the show."Usually with a filmmaker's intervention, we are able to get a show for charity. We pay the theatre for the tickets and get donations against the experience. This time, however, Madras Talkies, covered the ticket costs as well," Maslyne from The Banyan said. This is considered a rare gesture as, of late, producers and distributors have taken to booking the premiere shows of major films for themselves.Mani Ratnam, however, has long been associated with charitable causes. "He has been helping us for a very long time now and has given us prints for his movies before as well," said Janaki Pillai of Ability Foundation, which aims at empowering persons with disabilities. In the past, Mani Ratnam had directed The Banyan's star-studded fundraiser Netru Indru Naalai. He is also a trustee of the Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM).

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/lessons-in-charity-from-mani-ratnam/183001.html



Mani is the one who orchestrates Netru Indru Naalai which is a fund raiser for Banyan every year....

this is the organisation he helps:

http://www.thebanyan.org/