For most kids in Mumbai, a laptop is just another screen. For the children in a quiet BMC school in Andheri, it looked like something out of a movie. The first time Damini Chopra walked in with it, the room didn’t buzz — it went silent. Tiny faces leaned forward. Curiosity won over noise. For the first time, they weren’t being told what a “computer” was. They were touching it, watching it glow, playing with it.

Damini smiles when she recalls that day. “They had never seen one up close. Imagine learning English, AI, or coding from a textbook when you’ve never even tapped a keyboard.”

Known to many as an actor with a Harvard edge, Damini has always defied the boxes Bollywood neatly likes to put people in. Between film shoots, fitness diaries, and writing, she has quietly built another chapter: a mission to bridge the yawning gap in education for children who are in school, but left behind by the digital world.

Her Damini Chopra Foundation doesn’t just hand out laptops and leave. It creates pathways — teaching English, introducing AI basics, showing kids that the world online isn’t just for “someone else.” In classrooms where chalk dust still lingers, she’s plugging in a future where these children won’t just consume technology, but shape it. “that’s how we will reap benefits of our growing population- by equipping them with education and skills.”

It’s a vision that’s both filmi and fiercely real. An actor who’s equally comfortable on set and in a classroom, Damini is rewriting what it means to use your platform. This isn’t charity. It’s disruption. The kind that starts with one laptop in a school where kids had never even seen one — and could end with a generation that knows how to build the next one.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2025 04:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).