B'wood fight AIDS alongside with Miss Univ.
Tuesday,
September
05,
2006
New
Delhi
(UNI):
Indian
film-makers
and
actors
are
to
join
Miss
Universe
2006
Zuleyka
Rivera
Mendoza
this
Diwali
to
bring
more
light
into
AIDS
awareness
in
the
country.
The
Puerto
Rican
will
be
walking
down
the
ramp
in
nearly
a
dozen
Indian
cities
to
drive
home
the
message,
'Get
Tested
(for
AIDS),
It's
in
Fashion'.
Giving
support
to
the
Miss
Universe
Foundation
campaign
in
the
country
are
a
host
of
Bollywood
actors
including
Salman
Khan,
Anil
Kapoor,
Shilpa
Shetty
and
Dia
Mirza.
Also
joining
in
the
efforts
are
Mani
Ratnam,
his
actor-wife
Suhasini,
Tamil
actor
Madhavan,
Malayalam
playback
singer
K
J
Yesudas
and
Malayalam
actor
Prithviraj.
Yesudas,
who
lit
the
lamp
for
the
Miss
Universe
show
in
Kochi
last
year,
will
this
time
sing
for
the
campaign
in
the
city.
''Zuleyka told me she is excited about visiting India,'' US-based Indian fashion designer Sanjana Jon, who is organising the Miss Universe tour, said in an interview to UNI here. ''She said her visit during Diwali would be an achievement if she could change the life of at least one person in India.'' The official announcement of the India tour, which includes a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, will be made on September 9 during the New York Fashion Week. The Miss Universe has been properly briefed by her predecessor Russian Natalie Glebova, who visited six cities last year as a global ambassador for the AIDS awareness campaign, according to Jon, who is in India to prepare for the visit that begins in the last week of October.
Goa, which is facing a serious threat from HIV/AIDS, could be one of the new cities the new Miss Universe has on her itinerary along with Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Mendoza, of course, will be following up the campaign by Glebova in New Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, Mumbai and Chennai last year. Among the Bollywood supporters of Mendoza, actor Salman Khan is ready to tie up with the Miss Universe ''whereever she wants me'', says Jon, who has received assurances from Anil Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Shilpa Shetty about their support ''if they are in India during the Miss Universe tour''.
''Salman reaches out to the masses, including truck drivers. His involvement in the campaign is of utmost value,'' said Jon, who has also tied up with Hollywood director Manoj Night Shyamalan for AIDS awareness in India through the Chennai-based NGO Udacum Kavangal (Helping Hands) of 'Papa' Vidyakar. Mendoza will be the third Miss Universe to tour India for AIDS awareness campaign and the fourth to be associated with the cause in India after Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega Vega and Glebova. Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins lent a helping hand to the Indian campaign at a charity show with Shyamalan in New York. If Jon is able to pull it through, Backstreet Boys singer Howie Dorough would be accompanying Mendoz to India. ''He is very keen to come to India,'' says Jon, whose dream is to transform the Miss Universe campaign in India into the amfAR annual Cinema Against AIDS-like charity at the Cannes film festival attended by world celebrities.
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