Anil Kapoor flies to Belgium

By: Upala KBR, Mid-Day
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Anil Kapoor flew to Belgium on Monday night (with wife Sunita and the cast and crew of Gandhi My Father) for a special charity premiere of the film in Antwerp, followed by an auction of a Rs 20-lakh painting by Satish Gujra for Gandhi My Father.

Charity show

Talking to us before he left Anil says, "Gandhi My Father is having a special charity screening in Antwerp today. It has been organised by the Belgium ministry, the royal family and a close friend of mine, Dilip Mehta."

Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala, and director Feroz Abbas Khan have accompanied Anil.

He adds, “After the screening, we will have an auction of Satish Gujral"s painting, which he did after watching Gandhi My Father. It"s a painting of Harilal and Mahatma Gandhi."

The approximate value of the painting is Rs 20 lakh, informs Anil and expects to raise more funds in the auction.

“The proceeds of the auction will be given to charity — some amount to Plan India (of which Kapoor is the brand ambassador) and the rest to The Antwerp Giants in Belgium," he says.

Worthy event

Why have an auction of an Indian painting in Belgium? Says Anil, “They wanted to auction the painting at a major event. Initially, it was to be auctioned at Parmeshwar Godrej"s party, but then we cancelled the event because of Sanjay Dutt"s incarceration.

We couldn"t hold it in Mumbai later as there was no prominent function. The painting will fetch a better price in Belgium."

Now that Gandhi My Father has released, does Anil have any regrets? “None at all. It was the best thing to happened to me. Good things are happening to me thanks to the film," he says.