Philanthropy seems to be the flavour of the season for our Bollywood stars and the Khans are once again leading from the front. Last week Mirror reported that Shah Rukh Khan helped an unemployed light-man put his 5-year-old daughter back in school and now Salman Khan too has joined the charitable bandwagon. The recipient of Salman’s helping hand is Vinay Rajput, a background dancer who is currently hospitalized due to kidney failure. Vinay who has matched steps to Salman in films like Partner, Wanted and Mujhse Shadi Karogi, also assisted prominent choreographers like Ahmed Khan, Bosco-Caeser, Vaibhavi Merchant and Remo D’Souza. But things took a bad turn when the 34-year-old was hospitalized a few months ago, after his diabetic condition worsened. The dancing fraternity has since rallied around Vinay, whose father Chinu Rajput too is a retired Bollywood dancer, famous as the dancing partner of Helen in the hit number Piya Tu Ab to Aaja.

 

 

Recently, around 100 dancers from Jai Ho, Salman Khan’s home production, donated their day’s pay towards Vinay’s hospital bills, which amount to around 1.5 lakhs per week. So, when Salman came to know of Vinay’s plight, he asked his team member to get in touch with the dancer’s family and promised them that he will pay all of Vinay’s medical bills from now on. Ravi Kanwar, General Secretary of Cine Dancers Association, who is heading the cause of gathering funds for Vinay told Mirror, “I am glad Salman bhai has stepped in at the right time to save Vinay. He has recently been transferred to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital after spending months in smaller hospitals.”

 

When we contacted Dr Niranjan Kulkarni (nephrologist), who is attending to Vinay, he told this newspaper, “Vinay's kidneys were non-functional due to which toxins had accumulated in his body. He was immediately put on dialysis and we also carried out a kidney biopsy. If there is permanent damage, he will have to remain on dialysis and eventually undergo an organ transplant.” Meanwhile, the dancing fraternity has vowed to keep up their support. Choreographer Ahmed Khan said, “Vinay was on insulin for many years and now he is very weak. He is a brave man and prefers to smile through the pain.”