Salman Khan talks about the thing closest to his heart 
By Harneet Singh (Screen Weekly), November 16, 2007 - 11:58 IST
The recent hullabaloo surrounding Salman Khan's involvement in the
Worli accident seems straight out of a day in the actor's tumultuous life.
Recently B-Town was in tizzy when a city tabloid reported that the car
in which the actor was travelling collided with a motorcycle injuring a cop.
Even though Salman denied the incident outright much ink and airtime
was spent on the issue. "I was driving back from town after pack up
when I saw a huge crowd gathered at Worli junction. I asked around and
found out that there had been an accident. I got out to see if anybody
needed help. That was all," he says.
The latest incident notwithstanding, the actor is committed to
philanthropy. Currently, he is in the process of setting up the website
for his charitable trust, Being Human Foundation. The idea is to make
money for charity from the website. "We'll be selling a lot of stuff
like bracelets signed by me, my painting, sketches, the clothes that
I've worn in my films. We'll put it all for sale and the proceeds will
go for charity," he says.
Over the years, Salman has built a Good Samaritan reputation. He's
worked extensively for cancer and AIDS patients. The actor admits that
charity is a huge part of his life. "I'll do films idhar udhar but
charity will be my priority. I've got so much and I want to give back something," he says.
The actor jokes that when he started out his career as a professional
actor, his only ambition was to "have Rs 10 lakhs in my bank account."
Now he wants to build a smooth running NGO that will take care of
people who can't afford medical care. "It's not easy for a single
person to do all this because the financial implications are huge so we
will need the support of all my fans," he states.
And to make that happen the actor has lined up a host of activities.
First up, is an annual award function to felicitate all those who will
contribute to the Being Human Foundation. Salman's foundation is soon
kick starting a program called 1 One wherein every day Re 1 will be
deducted from a person's salary to get Rs 365 a year from one person.
"In this way we'll build a bank of people and use the collected funds
to cure cancer patients. Here too the guarantee is that if a person who
has donated money needs medical help and is unable to help himself then
we'll give him the money from the 1 One funds," he elaborates.
The actor's big dream is to open hospitals, pharmacy companies and
health care units. But Salman is very clear that he wants to do
everything with complete transparency. "I've been conned a lot in the
past and I don't want to be conned again," he rues. So if anybody comes
to his foundation for medical or financial assistance then they have to
be prepared for a thorough background search. The person's address will
be verified and the doctors who serve in the Being Human Foundation
will check the status of the illness.
In trademark Salman style he has the last word, "Before you ask me, I'm
not doing all this to get into politics. I'm doing this because this is
what I do."
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