Man Of The Year - Sonu Sood

2020 needs no introduction, neither does Sonu Sood. When the year kept throwing challenges at us, he inspired us to face them with kindness and compassion. The work that stood out was the Ghar Bhejo campaign to send migrants home and bring stranded Indian students back. Sood has received both bouquets and brickbats. But he is unfazed. Meet THE WEEK’s Man of the Year 2020

- Mini P. Thomas

IT was day three of the lockdown. Mumbai, always bursting at the seams, found itself straitjacketed, or so it seemed; its crowded, chaotic streets almost deserted and quiet.

Actor Sonu Sood and his childhood friend, Neeti Goel, were heading home after distributing food to the homeless who had found shelter under the Eastern Express Highway. While driving through Kalanagar (Bandra), they saw a woman bent over a stove, stirring a pot. As the car drove past, the woman ran towards it, waving frantically to stop. When Sood and Goel stepped out of the car, the woman broke down. She showed them the pot. It was empty, save for some stones. Shantabai had been stirring an empty vessel so that her five children—aged between one and seven—would fall asleep in the false hope that food would be served soon.

Shantabai’s situation left Sood feeling hollow. He realised that her plight was shared by many daily wage earners who were jobless because of the lockdown. The thought that thousands of children were going to bed hungry kept him up at night. He decided he had to do something. What followed was an outpour of compassion.

In April and May, as the lockdown kept extending, desperate migrants started walking home. Sood launched the Ghar Bhejo campaign with Goel and reportedly arranged transport for 7.5 lakh migrant workers. He equipped frontline workers with masks and face shields, airlifted students stranded abroad, and helped farmers in distress. He also launched Pravasi Rojgar, an app to help skilled and unskilled workers find jobs.