Hyderabad: Actor Sonu Sood, who played good Samaritan during Covid-19 pandemic, said on Wednesday that this was the important role of his career.
“I played many special roles in my films but the role I played during the pandemic is the most important role of my career. Almighty was directing me to do right thing in life. I would like to thank god for awakening me,” he said.
The actor was addressing a function organised here by Cyberabad Police to felicitate frontline warriors and plasma donors.
“When pandemic started I thought we should do our bit but I was clueless,” said Sonu Sood, who recalled that he was moved by the plight of 350 workers in Thane who requested him to provide food for 10 days because they wanted go home in Karnataka by walk.
He approached the authorities and took permissions and arranged transport for this group. Realising that there are millions who are stuck across the country, he started connecting with others to help stranded migrant workers.
“We formed a toll free number and within one hour we received one lakh calls in one hour. My emails were floods with mails. My number was ringing every minute. I asked my secretary to ensure that no call go unanswered,” he said.
Sonu Sood said it was the most special moment ‘to help guest workers because they were real heroes and were reason behind all our comforts’.
The actor said they could connect and send home over 7.26 lakh people. He then started receiving calls from students stuck abroad.
“Fourteen and half thousand students evacuated from like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Russia and Philippines.”
He said after going back home, the migrant workers and others contacted him and requested for jobs. He recalled that 50 lakh applications for jobs were received in two and half days. He along with other good people connected with him provided employment to two lakh people.
Sonu Sood said people also started approaching him for help for medical treatment. He connected with some doctors, owners of hospitals and people who want to help. Every day 20-22 surgeries are being done for months.
