11 May,2011 08:20 AM IST | | Tushar Joshi
Onir gets his 'I Am' cast (and good friends) Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri on board to start an NGO to fight child sexual abuse
Onir along with friends and his I Am actors Juhi Chawla and Sanjay Suri, is planning on starting an NGO that will work towards creating awareness about child sexual abuse.
What inspired him to start this institute? A chapter in the film, called I Am Abhimanyu was based on the real life stories of two individuals Ganesh Nallari and Harish Iyer. Both were sexually abused as children.
Talking about his plans, Onir says, "This is something I wanted to do for quite some time. It didn't make any sense in doing it before the release as it would seem like a promotional gimmick.
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But now that the movie has released, I want to make this NGO happen. I plan to work closely with another NGO called Arpan that is involved in the same kind of work.
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The idea is to encourage dialogue between parents and children. It is important that everything is discussed openly between them."
He adds, "Juhi is a parent herself and completely understands the need of such an effort. Also, Sanjay has become sensitised towards the issue after working in I Am.
It is about telling the kids not to shy away from talking about the knowledge of differentiating a 'bad touch' from a 'good one'. We are planning to name it Abhimanyu as it resonates with the chapter in the film."
