He was the ray of hope for millions in 2020, a year full of gloom as the Cooronavirus pandemic turned lives upside down. Actor Sonu Sood decided to not just donate, but also took it upon himself to help migrant workers, who had to walk to their native villages on foot, with no transport available during the nationwide lockdown.

“At that point, it was not about thinking what’s going to happen next, but about people who needed you more. That’s why I started by distributing food, providing shelter, and then the whole migrant movement started. I realised these are the people who made our homes, who’ve always been a part of our lives. Now when they wanted to go back to their homes, we couldn’t leave them midway,” Sood shares.

He launched various campaigns, programmes and even became the face of startups, all in a bid to help the economy, too, apart from people in need — Pravasi Rozgar app (to help migrants searching for jobs), ILAAJ India (for people who need urgent medical treatment), and a scholarship were few of them. Sood even distributed free e-rickshaws. He explains, “I thought just feeding and sending these people back home wasn’t my only job, but to take care of their health needs and education as well. The three pillars on which the whole country stands — healthcare, education, employment — were badly hit during the pandemic.”

What was surprising for Sood, 47, was that people he had never met volunteered to help him. A million is the number he comes up with when asked how many people he has helped so far. “The pandemic gave us time to realise the reason for us to come on this planet. It is not just for feeding our families or growing our business, but giving back to society as well,” he says.