Homecoming For Migrant Workers: Sonu Sood Sets An Example Of The Real Bollywood Hero

“I remember, my mother used to say you are successful, only if you are able to help someone in need,” said Bollywood actor Sonu Sood in a recent interview with Film Companion. For over 67 days now, India has been under a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the worst affected are the daily wage laborers and migrants. While many of us have the privilege of staying at home and following social distancing rules, thousands of migrant workers who have become homeless and penniless are on roads trying to reach their native place on foot.

Moved by the plight of troubled migrants walking several miles without food and water to reach their home, actor Sonu Sood has started the ‘Ghar Bhejo‘ campaign and emerged as a messiah for them. As a part of this campaign, every day since the COVID-19 lockdown in Mumbai, the actor has been organising buses for migrant workers to travel from Mumbai to their respective hometowns. He has helped thousands of migrants reach home. Recently, the actor also launched a toll-free helpline number (1800-121-3711) to ensure help to a large number of people. He responds to all the messages himself and provides both materialistic and moral support to these people.

After the actor started this initiative, several people reached out to him. He shared a glimpse of his mobile phone screen flooded with messages on Twitter, He shared a video and wrote: “We are getting your messages at this speed. I and my team are trying our best to help everyone! But if we miss some messages in this, I’m sorry about that.”

In an interview with The Hindu, Sood confessed that he does not believe in expressing his concern only on social media, and wanted to do some groundwork. “Migrant workers have helped build our roads, homes, and offices. We cannot stand and watch them be homeless,” said Sood. He said ‘crazily busy schedule’ keeps him awake nearly 22 hours a day. Along with this, he is also feeding stray animals across Mumbai.

Sood also shared how he contacted his friends who could help him reach out to transport authorities, police officials and the State government of Maharashtra and Karnataka to get required permissions. Sood has sent off buses to various states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The arrangements have been made for food and water too, and all forms of social distancing have been followed.

Though Sood hasn’t disclosed how much he has spent over the last few weeks, reports indicate that hiring buses can cost anywhere from Rs 65,000-2 lakh. Sood began hiring them at his own expense, and as word spread, people have come forward to do their bit to provide food, water and other requirements. In the meantime, Sood also opened the doors of his family-owned Shakti Sagar Hotel in Juhu (Mumbai), named after his father, to frontline health workers and doctors.

The onscreen villain, who is famous for playing antagonist roles in blockbusters including Dabangg (Hindi), Arundhati and Dookudu (Telugu), Chandramukhi (Tamil) and many more, has emerged as a real hero of Bollywood.

The article was originally published here.

Featured image source: Twitter