An initiative to promote safety and engagement while people are house-bound

The biggest celebration of Indian cinema, The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) is innovatively urging its fans to stay at home and stay safe through their digital concert series #IIFAHumSabSaathHainlaunched on Sunday alongside PM Narendra Modi’s initiative- as the nation vowed to stay indoors to fight the spread of the contagious COVID-19 outbreak.

An initiative by IIFA, #IIFAHumSabSaathHain, the digital concert series is part of IIFA’s larger #IIFAStayAtHomeConcerts featuring multi-talented Indian artists, singers and musicians LIVE on the Official IIFA Facebook page and simultaneously on their respective social media handles, Colors and MTV India pages every evening at 5 pm till the 31st of March.

Created to represent and share the feeling of unity and solidarity, the concert series seeks to not only entertain people but also spread the message of positivity and togetherness in the fight against coronavirus, #IndiaFightsCorona through short, LIVE and impromptu performances. The performances can also be viewed later on IIFA’s official instagram handle.

Coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative #JantaCurfew, the incredibly talented Indian singers, Harshdeep Kaur, Sukhbir Singh and Arjun Kanungo kickstartedthe concert series #IIFAHumSabSaathHain making use of the online platform to both educate and entertain their fans. Providing a much-needed reprise from the fatigue and isolation of staying home on the weekend and serenading their viewers with popular chart-topping music.

The Concert series began with "Sufi Ki Sultana"Harshdeep Kaur’s melodious performance of the prayer ‘EkOnkar’ as she urged everyone to stay safe and indoors. The "Prince of Bhangra", Sukhbir Singh’senergetic power-packed performance of his popular tracks, such as ‘Oh Ho’, ‘SaudaKharaKhara’ and ‘Punjabi Munde’ entertained the audience. Multi-talented singer and musician Arjun Kanungo offered a beautiful rendition of ‘Tu hi re’ and played acoustics to tracks like ‘Aayanatu’, ‘Fursat’ and covered Atif Aslam’s ‘WohLamhein’. He ended his set with ‘Applause for a cause’ urging everyone to show gratitude for the unsung heroes of the community at 5 pm, #JantaCurfewMarch22. Today, the digital concert series will feature a voice to reckon with, Shilpa Rao at 5 pm.

IIFA partnered with Viacom18’s trending campaign: PauseForACause, encouraging people to pause and step out to applaud the health workers and people manning the essential services.

Also featuring in the stellar line-up of LIVE performances areLisa Mishra & AKULL (Tuesday’| 24th March’20) followed by performances by Anusha Mani, Amrita Nayak&SangeetHaldipur (Wednesday |25th March’20) only at #IIFAHumSabSaathHain.
Other artists who have joined the initiative areIrrfan Khan, ManjMusik from RDB, B Praak, Jassie Gill, Papon, Meghna Mishra, Divya Kumar, Asees Kaur and many more.

Follow and stay tuned to IIFA social media handles for the future line-up and updates.

While launching the initiative, Harshdeep Kaur said, “It’s a challenging time for everyone as we all pause and relook at our world and lives. At such times we need to bring people together through every means possible. I commend Wizcraft International for this unique initiative #IIFAHumSabSaathHain and am delighted to have kickstarted the concert series.”

Commenting on the initiative, ArjunKanungo said, “It’s a difficult time for everyone, it’s important we work together and help each other. If I can make a couple of people feel better about staying at home I am happy to go live on social media every day. That’s why I support #IIFAhumsabsaathhain whole heartedly because truly, we are all in this together.”

Lisa Mishra who debuts on the platform on Tuesday, also commented, “I’m looking forward to performing for you all as part of #IIFAHumSabSaathHain. We are committed to giving you a beautiful musical experience in the comfort of your homes, with the personal hope that the healing power of music brings us all together.”

Commenting on the Occasion, Amrita Nayak Said,“I am really excited to be a part of #IIFAHumSabSaathHain. At this critical situation where all over the world we are fighting, I am really looking forward to perform for you all. Thanks to IIFA for this initiative which brings some musical moment in this time of our life and also it gives a great platform to all the digital creators like us!! So join me in #IIFAHumSabSaathHain musical slot, be together against this odd and let's bring some peace through music!!

Commenting on the occasion, Andre Timmins, Co-Founder-Director- Wizcraft International, said, “As always, IIFA is dedicated to building bridges across cinemas, businesses, communities and nations, creating everyone’s dream ‘One People. One World’. With the introduction of our digital concert series #IIFAHumSabSaathHain, we strive to bring about togetherness in this trying times. Keeping up with the spirit of the noble initiative #JantaCurfewinitiated by the PM Shri Narendra Modi, we hope to promote social distancing and at the same time entertain audiences by providing access to their favourite performers in the comfort of their own homes as #IndiaFightsCorona.”