Bollywood, Television Stars to Spread Awareness as AIDS Cases Mount in India

A recent report in the Daily News and Analysis newspaper noted that Indian film and television stars are launching multiple campaigns to raise HIV awareness. Film director Mira Nair and three other Indian directors are putting together four 12-minute-long films with HIV themes, to be shown before full-length features. "We are signing top stars," DNA quoted Nair, who said the aim was to make the shorts "as entertaining as a commercial movie itself." Television actor Rohit Roy just finished a short film on HIV. "Sex is still a taboo topic here and in fact even getting celebrities for the film was difficult," said Roy. "People in India are still apathetic to this subject but it's slowly improving," said Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actress who has appeared in two documentary films on HIV. Shetty also starred in the 2004 HIV/AIDS movie, "Phir Milenge," or "We'll Meet Again," India's first mainstream movie dealing with the disease. A UNAIDS report released May 30 said India now has the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the world: 5.7 million, surpassing South Africa's 5.5 million.

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