Tollywood’s ‘villain’ Sonu Sood real-life hero

Bommali man Sonu Sood might have scared the hell out of us in Anushka Shetty’s Arundhati over a decade ago, but today, this much-in-demand Tollywood villain is winning our hearts by going out of his way to arrange buses for migrant workers. Earlier in April, actor Sonu Sood offered his 24-room Juhu hotel for medical front liners in Mumbai.

He also launched Shakti Annadanam, a food distribution drive to feed more than 45,000 people on a daily basis. The campaign was aimed at migrant labourers stranded in the city, as well as essential service workers in need of food and ration. To sustain the initiative, Sonu launched a crowdfunding campaign with restaurateur Neeti Goel.

“We started with the idea of feeding 500-700 workers,” Sonu shared, “but as word spread, we started getting calls from a lot of people. At present, we have a team of 140 people delivering food to all areas.” Additionally, Sonu is providing meal kits to over 25,000 migrant workers during Ramzan. He also recently arranged buses for migrant workers to travel back to their homes in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

“My heart pains to see these migrants staying away from their homes walking on streets,” Sonu said. “I will continue sending migrants home until the last migrant reunites with his family and loved ones.” Earlier, he had offered his Mumbai hotel as a stay facility for healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic. On the film front, Sonu was last seen in the Telugu releases Sita and Abhinetri 2. His upcoming Bollywood film is Prithviraj, co-starring Akshay Kumar.