Bollywood icon Kajol met with children at a children’s charity Pratham primary school last week in Hanuman Basti to make a short film about education and literacy in India.

The exclusive film is to be shown at the Pratham UK gala in the autumn where the star will be the guest of honour. “I believe that literacy is the way forward for India and children are our future.’’says Kajol.

The star, who holds the record for the most Best Actress wins at the Filmfare awards has pledged her support to the charity by becoming its brand ambassador for the year.

Through its ‘Read India’ programme, Pratham has already helped a staggering 36 million to read all over the country.

‘‘I just love to read’’ said the star ‘‘It helps me through the bad moments in my life. I was at boarding school for 5 years and that’s where my love of reading.began. We had a fabulous library and I was the one who took out all the books!’’ The Pratham school children could not contain their excitement as the Bollywood icon signed autographs. Though Kajol seemed equally pleased to spend time with her budding young co-stars: ‘‘I loved it.’’ She beamed ‘‘I love kids on the whole most of the time. I think they were just amazing, honest and wonderful - they were not spoilt, they are just kids. It has been wonderful today. I can’t explain it any better than that.’’