Preity Zinta picked up a broom and Bollywood's badshah Shah Rukh Khan donned gloves to sweep the suburb of Bandra of its woes while Bombay Dyeing scion Ness Wadia took guard. No, this wasn't a filmi shoot nor a high-profile Page Three shindig, but a public awareness drive undertaken on August 15 by the actors to sensitize people towards cleanliness following the deluge in Mumbai.
In another part of town, Pooja Bedi, Kim Sharma and Yukta Mookhey donned their designer sunglasses and took to the streets with Ruby Bhatia, Niki Aneja, Raza Murad and 70 other television actors at a rally organized by Anu and Shashi Ranjan of the Indian Television Academy (ITA).
Elsewhere, filmmaker Vinta Nanda, Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Alyque Padamsee, Ashok Pandit and others, who united under the JAAG India forum, were demanding the list of dead be provided following the floods, having filed a PIL against the state Government and other agencies on August 3.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena screamed themselves hoarse over granting Mumbai separate statehood and the common man on the street grappled with possibilities of an epidemic, three separate factions from Mumbai's glamour galaxy decided to register a protest with a splash, albeit disjointedly.
"We shouldn't blame others if we can't keep our surroundings clean," declared Zinta, who announced that she would place 15 dustbins worth Rs 3,100 each in and around Bandra and got down and dirty to do her bit with Shah Rukh Khan and Ness Wadia in tow. She even put forth a proposal to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh that asked for a complete ban on plastics, compulsory classes of civic sense to be introduced in schools, public toilets to be installed and dust bins to be placed at regular intervals. "We took the first step today. Hope the government supports us in our initiative," she declared as flashbulbs popped.
Shashi Ranjan, president of the Indian Television Academy (ITA), organized a rally on Independence Day which saw a major turnout of television stars, thereby providing more photo opportunities. "We are grappling with a corrupt and inefficient corporation and we believe that citizens should be allowed to participate in the running of the city. We wanted to motivate a class of white-collared taxpayers who do not normally take to the roads," said Ranjan. Television personality Pooja Bedi participated in the rally to exercise her democratic rights. "We want the government to take notice of the shocking lack of emphasis on infrastructure. And celebrities can help in getting more media attention for the cause," she says.
Filmmaker Vinta Nanda, on the other hand, decided to do something more concrete than sloganeering and sweeping. "My 74-year-old mother was stuck in a bus for 14 hours. It was a wake-up call for all of us. We have been taking things as they come for too long without questioning the system," says Nanda. This feeling of collective helplessness gave birth to Jaag India, a civil society group where "like-minded friends" like Mahesh Bhatt, Alyque Padamsee, Ashok Pandit and others got together and filed a PIL against the state government, the municipal corporation, the police commissioner and the railways, among others.
"The PIL seemed like possibly the only way in which questions could be asked and answers could be demanded. We need more transparency and accountability for the relief material being distributed," says Nanda, voicing the opinion of over 600 people who have signed up with Jaag India online and one lakh others who participated in an SMS campaign. "We want to rebuild community participation in civic activities," reiterates Nanda, shrugging off the Bollywood tag. "This is not a Bollywood thing. Our movement has been joined by lawyers, doctors, corporate professionals as well as 42 non-governmental organizations," she states.
While some might welcome these "token gestures" and skeptics might term this as a case of the glamour industry merely paying lip service to the cause, ground reality has been slightly different. After the earlier photo-op Zinta was busy with her shooting schedule and was unavailable for comment. Her representative forwarded us the mandatory press statement. Around five of the 15 120 litre bins that she installed in the Reclamation area of Bandra were nowhere to be seen the next day. Civic authorities suspect they were stolen by nearby slum dwellers. The other 10 bins are waiting to be placed in areas where they might be needed. While locals scoff at her naïve efforts, others from the industry have come out in strong support. "At least the two biggest stars of the industry had the gumption to come out on the streets and do something about the situation," said filmmaker Pandit. "Professionally we might be from the media but at the end of the day we are also tax-paying citizens," he added, strongly seconded by page three regular Bedi. "We criticize celebrities for smoking on screen and other misdemeanors, but when they do something laudable please give them credit for it."
And though the factions might be divided over the best method of protest Shashi Ranjan believes that this multi-pronged attack will yield results. "As long as people are contributing towards the cause - whether it is by way of a PIL, with brooms or by demanding accountability, we welcome it," he states.
Activist Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice and Peace commends the effort but believes that issues like housing, food, health and schools in badly-affected areas like Kalyan and Mumbra are larger problems than cleanliness drives in Bandra. Theatreperson and social activist Alyque Padamsee, who is part of the Jaag India movement, on the other hand, believes Bollywood's large heart is at work again. "Any celebrity who lends his/her name to as cause instantly garners attention to the campaign. I don't much care for Bollywood films but the industry has always put a generous foot forward," he believes.
For now, Jaag India has been joined by the Lions Club, The Rotary Club and the Giants in their endeavour to assist relief and encourage transparency. Preity Zinta promises to continue her efforts on a personal level unmindful of disappearing dustbins and will be meeting the municipal commissioner soon. And Vinta Nanda is all set to make a movie Pani with Ashok Pandit on how the concept of rain has changed for them as filmmakers since the floods. She promises that Jaag India will not shut shop once the media cameras turn off the spotlight. Nanda says she will persevere "for however long it takes to get the right answers".

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