Film stars to play Santa for Mumbai kids

Film celebrities like Raveena Tandon, Boman Irani to Shreyas Talpade and Mandira Bedi will surprise the less fortunate children in Mumbai at an event Star Nite, to be held here Saturday.

A dance event, to be held at Nehru Centre auditorium in Worli here, is being organised by Mumbai police's constabulary contingency, and it will see performances by children from various NGOs like Akanksha, Teach For India, cancer survivor children from Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) and Salaam Bombay Foundation, said a statement.

The children have been preparing year-round to put up a performance for the stars. They will have audience from film and TV fraternity.

Raveena will be the chief guest for the event, where stars from the telly world will also be present.

The ravishing "Mohra" actress finds such events to be "rewarding" and she says "the moment you get to an event with children around, you get to revisit childhood".

"There is so much positive energy that you take back from them. I'm truly grateful to Mumbai constabulary contingency to give me such an opportunity to spend time with children and in this festive season it's always fun to shake a leg or two with the kids," Raveena said.

The competition round of the event will be judged by choreographer Ganesh Acharya.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria and Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar will preside over the event to encourage the children.

After the competition, the children will get their awards directly from the stars.

Diana Tyagi, chairperson, Star Nite, said: "We do this as a year-round effort and our show is getting bigger with every year. I want to personally thank each and every guest of hounour to accommodate us in their busy schedules. This is honestly the high point of our show and children really go back encouraged to perform better next year.

"We really want to strengthen this platform so that these kids can find a career calling through dance. There is no Star Nite without the stars."