Rakul Preet, Jackky Bhagnani, Saina Nehwal, and Lakshmi Manchu walk the runway at the annual Teach for Change fundraiser

It was a star-studded affair and a casting coup when, on February 19, actor Lakshmi Manchu assembled 40 celebrities from various fields to walk the runway at the Teach for Change annual fundraiser show in Hyderabad. Bollywood couple Rakul Preet Singh and producer Jackky Bhagnani stole the show in Hyderabad-based designer Varun Chakkilam creations, while several Telugu actors including Elnaaz Nourazi, Regina Cassandra, Pragya Jaiswal, Shubra Aiyappa, Niharika Konidella, Behram Siganporia, Shivani Rajashekar and others added to the glamour quotient.

Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal walked the runway with her husband, Parupalli Kashyap, to contribute to the noble cause of educating children.

The show was hosted by Antora Teach for Change, a Hyderabad-based NGO co-founded by Brahmachari Chaitanya, with the goal of raising funds and awareness for the Teach For Change Trust, which works to provide quality education to underprivileged children.

“I have always wondered what my purpose in life was, why am I here, how can I make people around me better, their lives better,” Manchu says of the vision behind the cause and what prompted her to start something like this years ago. You give them food, and they become hungry again the next meal; you give them clothes, and they need something else. So what can you give them that you can never take away, and that is education. It not only empowers them, but it also gives them hope and the desire to achieve something for themselves, which was a trigger for me. And I felt that if I could do it, the rest would fall into place, just like poverty, the way we see what we don’t like can change if we have a basic education.”

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