Sonu Sood

Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian film actor, producer, and humanitarian who acts predominantly in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Punjabi films. In September 2020, Sood was chosen for the prestigious ‛SDG Special Humanitarian Action Award’ by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for his humanitarian works during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2009, he received the Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Villain and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu for his work in the Telugu blockbuster Arundhati. In 2010, he garnered the Apsara Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role and the IIFA Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role for the Bollywood film Dabangg. In 2012, he received the SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu) for Julayi. He is best known for roles in films such as Yuva (2004), Athadu (2005), Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005), Ashok (2006), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Arundhati (2009), Dookudu (2011), Shootout at Wadala (2013), Happy New Year (2014), Kung Fu Yoga (2017) and Simmba (2018).

He also appeared in commercials for Apollo Tyres and Airtel.

In July 2016, he established the production house Shakti Sagar Productions, which is named after his father, Shakti Sagar Sood.

Career
In 1999, Sood was introduced to Tamil language films with Kallazhagar and Nenjinile. He then appeared as an antagonist in the Telugu film Hands Up! in 2000. In 2001, he appeared in Majunu. He then began starring in Hindi films, with Shaheed-E-Azam, as Bhagat Singh in 2002. Sood earned recognition as Abhishek Bachchan's brother in Mani Ratnam's Yuva in 2004 and in Aashiq Banaya Aapne in 2005.

In Tollywood, with the release of Super in 2005, he received greater recognition for his work. In this film, his co-star was Nagarjuna as a high-tech thief. His next film was Athadu. In 2006, he again portrayed the antagonist in Ashok. It was an average grosser, but by now he had become popular in Telugu films.

In 2009, he played the role of Pasupathy in Arundhati. Following the Tollywood release of Arundhati, he played the role of Rajkumar Sujamal in the Indian epic film Jodha Akbar, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. In 2009, he played the role of gangster Bada in Anjaneyulu opposite Ravi Teja. In the latter half of 2009, he acted in another Telugu film Ek Niranjan, in which he again played the antagonist. In 2010, he played the lead antagonist in Abhinav Kashyap's Dabangg, co-starring with Salman Khan. His Kannada debut with Sudeep, Vishnuvardhana (2011), released to positive reviews of his performance. He was appointed "the state icon of Punjab" by the state election commission.

Personal life
Sood married Sonali, a Telugu woman in 1996. They have two sons.

Social work during the COVID-19 pandemic
In May 2020, during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sood helped thousands of stranded Indian migrant workers to reach their homes by arranging buses, special trains and chartered flights for them. In July 2020 he arranged a chartered flight to bring home over 1,500 Indian students stranded in Kyrgyzstan, flying them from Bishkek to Varanasi. His charity during the pandemic was lauded, and he was hailed as a real-life hero in India.

On 25 July 2020, a video of a farmer's daughters ploughing a field, like bulls with a yoke on their shoulders, went viral over social media. Sood quickly sent the family a tractor. On 5 August 2020, he helped 101 medical students, predominantly from Tamil Nadu, who were stranded in Moscow during the lockdown, reach Chennai safely on a chartered flight arranged by him after they contacted his team for help. On his birthday he launched a website and app called Pravasi Rojgar to help migrant workers find suitable jobs amid the pandemic.