Light up a hundred villages -- with Bollywood's help

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A host of Bollywood stars are teaming up with Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations climate panel, to help raise money for a project that will generate power for 100 villages in Asia and Africa.

Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and several other celebrities from the Indian film industry are involved in the 'Light A Billion Lives' campaign, which aims to provide solar lanterns in villages spread across nine countries.

Bachchan, along with son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya and others like Preity Zinta, will raise money and work for the campaign initiated by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India during their upcoming concert tour in North America and Europe.

"We hope to achieve the target by February 2009 and now that the stars are going to help us with the cause, we hope to raise awareness about this cause as well," Pachauri, who heads TERI besides chairing the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said at an event held on Friday.

At least 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity, Pachauri said adding that the 'Light A Billion Lives' campaign would target villages in countries like India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Malawi.

For Bollywood stars like Zinta, working for the campaign is one of the perks of being a celebrity.

"You go out there (to perform) because you get paid for it, because it's your job. But to make something like this part of your job… it just makes you feel good about your karma," the 33-year-old actress told Reuters.

"It doesn't take too much money to light a village, like I discovered. Even when you are watching big stars perform, you know there is a purpose," Zinta said.