NAVARASA ANTHOLOGY BENEFITED 12,000 FAMILIES OF WORKERS IN THE TAMIL CINEMA INDUSTRY
The Navarasa anthology of nine short films by nine directors, which premiered on Netflix in August, was conce
ptualised in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Helmed by Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan, the unique project had some of the best names in the business working pro bono, in order to raise funds for cin ema industry workers afflicted by the lockdowns. 12,000 workers – the majority of them behind-the-scenes st aff including lighting personnel,vessel washers, junior artists and numerous others – received financial support for six months, using the infra str ucture of the Bhoomika Trust NGO. As a video just released on Youtube on the success of this initiative shows, this critical assistance proved to be a life-saving intervention, enabling the fam ilies of the 12,000 beneficiaries to secu re provisions and manage their households during the most difficult st ages of the lockdowns.
