Amitabh Bachhan, Preity Zinta and John Abraham in the movie ‘Welcome’ !!

The three stars support awareness campaign against human trafficking which is shown before the start of ‘Anil-Nana-Akshay-Katrina’ starring ‘Welcome’ movie

‘Welcome’ is a comedy movie which stars Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Feroz Khan and Mallika Sherawat. The film is based on Hollywood’s ‘Mickey Blue Eyes’, and is directed by Anees Bazmee, produced by Feroz Nadiadwala and written by Rajiv Kaul and Praful Parekh duo. But there is surprise after its initial censor board certificate; one sees Amitabh, Preity and John there. They are in it to make public service announcements for UN.GIFT, the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. This inbuilt video spot in the film is part of UN’s awareness initiative with Indian Film Industry and is produced by The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for South Asia.

This two minute spot which is part of the movie is on the crime of human trafficking in India. One Life, No Price precedes every show of the movie ‘Welcome’. The spot aims to sensitize millions of movie-goers to this form of modern-day slavery and galvanize action to prevent and combat human trafficking by civil society and law enforcement partners. The spot powerfully shows how children get affected by trafficking and how it exposes them to abuse, and reason to focus on the issue.

UNGIFT is the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) which was conceived to join forces and coordinate the global fight on human trafficking in March 2007 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). UN.GIFT provides a framework for, and action by, all stakeholders—governments, business, academia, civil society and the media—so that they can support each other, work in partnership, and create effective tools to fight human trafficking.

The Global Initiative is based on a simple principle: human trafficking is a crime of such magnitude and atrocity that it cannot be dealt with successfully by any government alone and needs many stakeholders.

Contributed by Anil Gulati