After the successful ‘Mask On India‘ charity stream that raised Rs. 51 lakh last month, Indian comedians and streamers got together once again this weekend for the ‘Show Up For India’ charity stream—in partnership with Give India and Hemkunt Foundation. And this time around they raised a whopping Rs. 62 lakh! This was the third installment in a series of fundraisers under the banner, with the first being live comedy show (in pre-COVID times) ‘Stand Up For India‘ to raise funds for the Internet Freedom Foundation. Last year’s ‘Stay Home For India‘ charity live-stream had raised Rs. 24 lakh for COVID-19 frontline workers.

Hosted by Tanmay Bhat and Samay Raina on their respective YouTube channels, this year’s two-day charity event was filled with improv games with Kaneez Surka, chess battles, geo-guessing and some beautiful music. The line-up for the event was filled with the biggest names from Indian comedy including Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kanan Gill, Prashasti Singh, Aishwarya Mohanraj, Aadar Mallik, Varun Thakur, Zakir Khan and many more. Not just that, Bollywood stars Richa Chadda, Soha Ali Khan, Bhumi Pednekar, Konkona Sensharma, Kunal Khemu and Saqib Saleem also took part in the event.

“It was such an amazing feeling because this time the format was different,” Raina told DeadAnt. “Everyone came and hosted their own bits and it felt like a proper show. It felt like the entire community came together to fight for this cause.”

Raina added that the event was planned by Kaneez Surka, Amshula Prakash and the team from OML. “When Tanmay and I came into the picture, I was hopeful but I had no idea we would raise so much money,” he said. “We made the announcement just one day before the stream. But I was very happy and amazed at the turnout. It shows that people are in this together.”

Over the two days of the event, Surka had the guests guessing how long it would take for someone to walk from Delhi to South Africa (what?!), Kanan hosted one of the funniest segments of the live-stream that included an oxygen-themed quiz, and Sumukhi Suresh had the guests spilling their most embarrassing secrets. Not to forget the absolutely stunning music that was performed by Ankur Tewari, Kamakshi Khanna, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya and Yashraj Mukhate. Neville Shah was also joined by therapists Narendra Kinger and Anagha Bhave for a short and informative session on the importance of taking care of one’s mental health.

You can watch the ‘Show Up For India’ live-stream below or on Raina or Bhat’s channels. And while we have your attention, you can also donate to the cause here or here.