Akshay Kumar comes to the aid of Mumbai’s iconic Gaiety-Galaxy theatre amid lockdown, offers financial aid: report

Aksay Kumar has offered to help a Mumbai cinema hall that is struggling to pay its staff amid coronavirus lockdown, says a new report.

Akshay Kumar has been doing his bit helping people in need through the coronavirus lockdown. After creating awareness videos and donating to several charities including ₹25 crore to PM-Cares fund, he has now offered to help Mumbai cinema hall Gaiety-Galaxy owner to pay his staff, says a report in Mid Day.

Akshay Kumar has already contributed to various charities. (IANS)

The report said that Manoj Desai, owner of the Mumbai cinema hall, had to take a bank loan to provide salaries to his employees amid the coronavirus lockdown. On reading about it, in a previous report of the same paper, Akshay called them. “Three days ago, I got a call from Akshayji. He offered to provide financial assistance if the scenario continues. It was kind of him to offer help, but we should find a way to sustain ourselves. We have managed to collect enough funds to pay the salaries for this month, but the theatre shutdown will have long-term ramifications. Our focus is to ensure we don’t trim staff or resort to pay cuts,” Manoj said.

When the Covid-19 lockdown ends in early May, they would incurred huge losses. After two weeks of lockdown, Manoj and business partner Arun Nair had decided to increase the ticket prices as soon as the cinemas re-opened. However, after lockdown extension, recovering from a 45-day period, is going to be tough. “I will head to Gaiety and Maratha Mandir today to finalise our plan of action for May. We are reworking our plans to ensure that we don’t have to seek support from the industry folk.”

Akshay was among the first film stars to contribute to various charities. In March-end, he had announced that he would be donating ₹25 crore to the emergency fund launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to combat health contingencies like the coronavirus. Taking to Twitter, Akshay said that safeguarding the lives of the people is of paramount importance right now. “This is that time when all that matters is the lives of our people. And we need to do anything and everything it takes. I pledge to contribute ₹25 crores from my savings to @narendramodi ji’s PM-CARES Fund. Let’s save lives, Jaan hai toh jahaan hai,” Akshay wrote.To this, PM Modi replied, “Great gesture @akshaykumar. Let’s keep donating for a healthier India.”

(With IANS inputs)

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