Saving the Day
The Unscripted Star
UNTIL MARCH THIS YEAR, Sonu Sood was best known for his portrayal of villainous characters. But his many social welfare initiatives amid the COVID-19 crisis have made people hail him as a real-life hero. It all started with the actor offering rooms of his Juhu hotel to healthcare workers who were risking infection on the front line and facing social ostracisation. While the lockdown slowed down the contagion’s spread, its abrupt implementation brought troubles of its own. Thousands of migrant workers got stuck in cities like Mumbai without a source of income or food. Sood stepped in to feed almost 45,000 people daily with his initiative, Shakti Annadanam. He also arranged for inter-state buses and all the requisite government permissions to send migrant workers to their homes. He admits that he doesn’t even know if he contracted COVID-19 in the process since he was spending 18-20 hours a day on the field. The biggest challenge he faced, Sood says, is the lack of contacts and training for this undertaking. “I didn’t know how to accomplish the task, but there was a passion to work till the last migrant reached his native place.” It was this initiative that brought him a flood of requests. Sood went on to arrange flights to bring) and app, which would link job seekers with employers and also equip the former with requisite skills. “We’ve got over 10 lakh job applications already and have delivered about 1.5 lakh jobs,” Sood reveals. Many of us displayed empathy with the needy on social media, but few ventured out of their safety bubbles to help. Sonu Sood never once took the easy road, and for that, he is a true hero.
