Sonu Sood with his wife Sonali during an event in Mumbai. File

We have heard and read about many fictional characters, who symbolise hope and faith, like Batman, Spider-Man and Superman. When we feel stuck somewhere we expect Superman or Spider-Man to come to our rescue, but in real life it does not happen very often. However, a Bollywood actor has turned into a Batman and Superman for hundreds of stranded Indian migrant workers. He has become their wonderful go-to saviour, a symbol of hope.

If you look at his Twitter account, you will see it is flooded with requests. Those who managed to reach their homes have posted very emotional thank you notes, a few have invited him to visit them, while others have posted lovely poems dedicated to him.

Going through his Twitter posts will make you laugh, smile and cry. The outpouring of emotion is for Sonu Sood, who has become a symbol of love and care. His Twitter and email accounts have become a hotline number where people are posting like anything from all across India for help.

A rather shy star, known for his chiselled six-pack abs, Sonu has worked in films like “Jodhaa Akbar,” “Singh Is Kinng,” “Dabangg,” “R... Rajkumar,” “Entertainment,” “Happy New Year,” and “Paltan.”

He has a legion of fans with his presence and variety of roles, but the recent ongoing pandemic which made the entire world sit up and take notice, showed that Sonu has a heart of gold, with an extraordinary concern for his fellow citizens.

He has been working night and day, coordinating with respective state governments to help stranded workers reach their homes safely. He can be seen walking on the streets of Mumbai with migrant workers.

Over the last couple of months, headlines like “Sonu Sood offers his Juhu hotel for healthcare workers,” “Sonu Sood distributes food among the underprivileged,” “Sonu Sood to feed over 25,000 migrants during Ramadan” have grabbed people’s attention.

While talking to an Indian news agency he said, “I feel it is my duty to help the migrants, the heartbeat of our country. We have seen migrants walking on the highways with their families and kids. We just can’t sit in AC comfort and tweet and show our concern till we don’t go on the roads, till we don’t become one of them.

Otherwise they will not have the trust that there is someone standing there for them. So I have been coordinating for their travel, for permission from different states.” He further claimed: “Now I get so many messages and hundreds of emails every day, saying that they want to travel and I have been coordinating non-stop from the morning till the evening. This has become my only job during this lockdown. It gives me so much satisfaction which I can’t express in words.”

Not too long ago, Shilpa Shetty shared a post in which she showered praise on the actor for his relentless hard work to reunite the migrants with their families.