Sonu Nigam invites charity foundations for gigs in December

National Award-winning singer Sonu Nigam says he will do as many charity shows as possible during the month of December, which is the peak season for concerts.

"I wanted to give December a chance because it is generally the peak season for concerts. This time, there were hardly any enquiries for charity events. Private shows and all are happening but people are not doing much for charities," Sonu told IANS.

The reason, he says, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's move to demonetise high value currency notes - a step that was taken last year.

"Nobody wants to part with cash because of demonetisation. I am not blaming anyone. It's a change that happened in the financial system. So people want to stay secured. They don't want to part with their money and they want to spend less. It's fair enough. The entire country is going through this," he said.

"I want to give one month to it. This is kind of an invitation to all the charity organisations. I will do shows for a minimal amount so that there is a revival of such public charity events," added the popular singer, who has given a number of hits like "Kal ho naa ho", "Abhi mujh mein kahin", "Main agar kahoon" and "Deewana tera".

This isn't the first time that he has shown interest in social causes. In the past, he had extended his support to the transgender community, held a charity concert to raise funds to educate tribal children, did a Unicef charity project, worked towards eliminating malnutrition in India and much more.

His mother Shobha Nigam lost her battle with cancer in 2013. So will his charities go to cancer foundations or are there any other causes that he would like to be attached to?

"We can't be 'cause specific'. Of course, my mother passed away because of cancer, so cancer will be one of my primary causes but I am willing to help the orphans, old age people, something to do with vaccination, education or whatever that people want to do. I will be happy to help," said Sonu.

Does he have any preference for cities?

"It all depends on where the foundations are from. There are no boundaries. Let them approach and then we will see how we can help them. I just want people to hold more charity events. The spirit of contributing should not go," he said.

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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