AR Rahman to perform live in Chennai for THIS cause, FEFSI president RK Selvamani thanks the Ponniyin Selvan composer

Academy Award-winning composer AR Rahman is all set to perform in Chennai after a long time. The composer will be conducting a grand concert at Nehru Stadium in Chennai on March 19. The concert is aimed at raising funds for struggling film workers, especially lightmen in the industry. The news was announced by director RK Selvamani, president of the film industry workers' body, Film Employees Federation of South India (popularly known as FEFSI).

Speaking to the media about the need to raise funds for technicians like lightmen, RK Selvamani said, "Every time a technician loses his life on duty, everyone mourns about him for a day, pay their tribute and forget about it. But what happens to their families after that? There have been many accidents on the film sets. If the technician gets injured or loses his life while working in a film headlined by a big star, he gets a reasonable compensation. For instance, after the accident on Indian 2 sets, the bereaved families were monetarily compensated to an extent. But there are many who pass away while working in a film made by a struggling director or producer. My only request is that just like how the government provides financial assistance when its employee gets injured or loses his or her life on duty, those in films, too, need that kind of support."

Talking about how AR Rahman came into the picture, RK Selvamani says, "There was an incident involving the death of a lightman at AR Rahman's studio recently. He was so upset and shocked by the incident that he shut down the incident. Rahman then said that every life is precious, who will take care of the family now? AR Rahman had then sent a letter stating that he was creating a corpus fund in aid of lightmen who get injured or lose their lives in accidents. He decided to do a concert to raise funds for the cause," he said.