Ajay Devgan, Kajol donate RS 1 crore to Mahesh Memorial

Darinia Khongwir and Anupama Subramanian
Superstars Ajay Devgan and his wife Kajol have donated RS 1 crore to the Mahesh Memorial Trust in the Chennai on Wednesday, September 21. The couple were featured in the hugely popular Kaun Banega Crorepati show on Sunday and they had won RS 1 crore. The trust set up in memory of MR Mahesh is in aid of people who are suffering from cancer.

MR P. Jayendra, Director, Real Image Media Technologies, Pvt. LTD, Trustee, Mahesh Memorial Trust says, "We had approached Star Television to raise funds for the trust through one of their programmes and when KBC started we came to know about stars participating in the show and donating the prize money for a cause. Once again we put forth our request to Star TV."

"They were open to it but said, so long as the stars participating in the show have no objection, they do not have any problem. They informed us that Ajay Devgan and Kajol will be the next star couple who will participate for a good cause. Since director Mani Ratnam is also one of the trustees in Mahesh Memorial Trust, he spoke to Ajay Devgan about our trust and requested him to contribute the prize money in the KBC show to this trust. The film stars' gesture was amazing. We never expected one crore rupee. We thought they would win a few lakhs only! This money is being utilised to construct a 'pediatric ward' at the Cancer Institute in Chennai." MR Jayendra adds.

Bharath Ram, Senior Advocate, High Court, Trustee, Mahesh Memorial Trust says, "When Mahesh Memorial Trust was started in 2003, we wanted to build a pediatric ward for children suffering from cancer and dedicate it to the Cancer Institute at Chennai. We held a fund raising musical program by AR Rahman, which was first of its kind in Chennai and collected RS one crore. But that was not sufficient for our plan and there was a deficit of funds."

"When Star TV came out with the KBC show, our friend and trustee Jayendra came out with a brilliant idea of approaching Star TV to perform a charity show and the prize money be donated to our trust. Then I spoke to Harsh Rohagi who heads Star-Vijay in Chennai. He consulted with Star TV, Mumbai and said that if we could get some stars to the show it would be possible. One day when we were all discussing it, Mani Ratnam said he would speak to Ajay Devgan, (who acted under his direction in Yuva) who is not much exposed to media and he also immediately agreed. His wife Kajol was also kind enough to participate along with him." MR Bharath Ram adds.