‘Not an easy job, but the idea is to save lives’

With the second wave of COVID-19 getting more intense by the day, Sonu Sood has gotten busy again. This time, people in distress, from across the country, are reaching out to the Bollywood actor for help with arranging hospital beds, oxygen supplies, Remdesivir and other life-saving medicines.

Helping people get oxygen cylinders, medicines and hospital beds is more satisfying than delivering a ₹100 crore film, says the 47-year-old actor, who was been grabbing headlines for the past year and a half for serving the needy amid the pandemic. He is currently flooded with countless SOS calls and at least 30,000 messages every day on his personal mobile number, keeping him busy for most part of the day.

“Every day, I personally respond to at least hundreds of calls and get at least 30,000 messages. Calls and pleas for help are only increasing by the day,” he says in a phone conversation with

The Hindu from Mumbai.

The actor, who recently finished shooting his part for Chiranjeevi-starring

Acharya and Akshay Kumar’s Prithviraj , said balancing finances, family and his professional life is a thing of the past for him and now he only thinks about people in need. “When you think about finances and family, you cannot do the service. You have to keep on doing it and moving, and God will be guiding you,” he says.

Stating his nation-wide philanthropy work as an ‘impossible task’, Mr. Sood says that he had been doing it for the past one and half year, and spending sleepless nights trying to arrange things for people in emergency situations. “These days, I am up for at least 22 hours, talking to people over phone and arranging whatever they want. I start my day at 5.40 a.m. and on several days, I go to bed after seeing the next day’s sunrise,” he avers.

It’s not an easy job, he admits, adding, “But I feel very happy when I am able to get a hospital bed or Remdesivir or oxygen cylinder for the needy and airlift stranded migrant workers and students”.

Asked how long his philanthropy would sustain, he says it had no end now. “This thing has become an integral part of my life and will go on. It will continue forever. We can’t sleep when people are waiting outside hospitals, looking for beds,” says Mr Sood, who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered within a week after quarantining at home.

Recently, the actor mortgaged eight Juhu properties — two shops and six flats — to raise ₹10 crore for his humanitarian efforts. “Money is a temporary thing. The idea is to save lives. If you have good intentions, you will definitely find a way to help people in need. I’m touched by the outpouring of love and blessings,” he adds, stating that he isn’t comfortable talking about finances.

The actor started with food distribution during last year’s lockdown, sending migrants workers home, helping them secure employment, health benefits and education. “When so many people put their trust on your shoulder, you have to deliver and that is what I am trying to do,” he points out.

So far, the actor had reached out to 1.5 million people in distress, providing two lakh jobs, helped more than 5,000 people with life-saving surgeries and hundreds with education. Last year, he was chosen for ‛SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award’ by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for his humanitarian work during the pandemic.

‘Not an easy job, but the idea is to save lives’

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood says he has been receiving at least 30,000 messages for help daily