“Vadala bommali vadala”. When Sonu Sood as ‘Pasupathi’ mouthed the dialogue in the movie ‘Arundhati’ it gave goose bumps. Soon, it had become a rage and a staple dialogue for many people across the two states.
Now, the deadly spectre of corona seems to have taken the Pasupathi role. The world’s most feared villain ‘coronavirus’ is driving a chill in the spine of people killing them by the dozens. Covid-19 is refusing to die down saying
“Ninnu vadala”. The pandemic is the most despised rogue, real evildoer and lethal. It shows no compassion.
Flus, plagues and diseases are familiar villains in human history, but they bring out the best of character in people. While Covid-19 is wreaking havoc with peoples lives, the pandemic brought out the best in Sonu Sood. The hero in him far outweighed the ‘reel villain’ in him.
First, he had offered his Juhu Hotel in Mumbai for the frontline warriors including the doctors, nurses and the para-medical staff to stay there.
“We can collectively win this fight against Covid-19,” were the soothing words of Sonu Sood. After offering his Juhu hotel to healthcare workers, Sonu Sood has taken up another Herculean task – feeding 45,000 people daily in Mumbai.
Sood seems to have a soft corner for people of two Telugu states. The actor, who played several negative shades in Telugu big hits like Julayi, Athadu, Ek Niranjan, Super, Kandireega, Abhinetri not to forget Arundhati, stretched his helping hand in these cruel times when even kind words are difficult to come by.
In a gesture to give back to the Telugu people who have patronised him for decades, Sood had gifted a tractor to a farmer in Chittoor district. After a netizen sent a video of two young girls ploughing the fields with a yoke, Sood came forward to help the farmer’s family by gifting a tractor.
This family doesn’t deserve a pair of ox ?..
They deserve a Tractor.
So sending you one.
By evening a tractor will be ploughing your fields ?
Stay blessed ❣️?? @Karan_Gilhotra #sonalikatractors https://t.co/oWAbJIB1jD— sonu sood (@SonuSood) July 26, 2020
With more than 1 lakh total confirmed cases and a total of 1,148 Covid-19 deaths, Andhra Pradesh has been India’s one of the top-most affected states. In this scenario, Sood has emerged as an unlikely hero for his ongoing efforts to help people in Andhra Pradesh. His efforts have highlighted the incompetence of the Andhra Pradesh government to come to the rescue of people in the state.
Two days after gifting the tractor’s family in Andhra Pradesh, Sood has responded to a video sent to his Twitter handle. The video showed a techie selling vegetables in Hyderabad after she lost her job due the coronavirus outbreak. Responding to the video, Sonu Sood offered a job.
Sonu Sood has earned immense praise for providing help to the farmer’s family, the techie vegetable seller, frontline warriors in Mumbai and stranded migrant workers in Maharashtra.
Hyderabad is India’s major IT hub only after Bengaluru. K T Rama Rao is the IT minister. It is unfortunate that a techie had to sell vegetables on the street in a city that is known to be the citadel of the IT industry and reflects the utter failure of the IT ministry to safeguard the interests of the techies.
While Sood is reaching out to people in both the states, discordant voices are attaching political motives to the actor. The actor, known to be a BJP sympathiser, has drawn criticism from certain political quarters for his gesture. Rattled by the ‘generosity’ of Sood, some political parties sought to draw a BJP link to his help to people in the two Telugu states even as the saffron party is looking to gain a foothold in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The central BJP leadership also appointed new BJP presidents in the two states. Some leaders called Sood as a BJP stooge which is unfortunate. The actor had faced similar assault in Maharashtra from Shiv Sena, once the BJP ally. What are the YSRCP and TRS leaders insecure about?
This reminds one of the famous quote, “Those who can do, those who cannot criticise.”
Kudos to Sonu Sood. Your gesture is quite soothing in these times when human values have hit the nadir. May his tribe grow.
