Actor Sonu Sood teamed up with childhood friend Neeti Goel to play real-life hero for migrants
Neeti Goel and Sonu Sood launched the Ghar Bhejo campaign to help migrants. Pic/Bipin Kokate
Sonu Sood, 47
Neeti Goel, 44
Actor; Owner of Madras Diaries, Keiba and Ostaad restaurants
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In April, restaurateur Neeti Goel was driving through Wadala with friend and actor Sonu Sood when they saw a group of around 500 migrants under the Eastern Express Highway. They decided to stop the car and talk to them. Some of them, they learnt, had not eaten in the last 18 hours, but were determined to walk home to their villages in Karnataka because work and supplies had run out in Mumbai. "We convinced them to stay put and offered to give them food until we figured out a way to organise transport for them," says Goel, who co-founded Khaana Chaiye, an initiative to distribute meals to the jobless and displaced migrants in the city during the lockdown.
"Sonu made a few calls to sort out permissions and I got in touch with an agency who was ready to give us 10 buses to take this group to Belgaum, provided we signed an indemnity bond to protect them from police curfews," says Goel.
Neeti Goel
When the first lot of buses took off on May 6 carrying 500 migrants, Sood became the face of pandemic rescue in India, with migrants reaching out to him for support there on. "I never really saw it as being a real-life hero, as people have very kindly called me. We were doing what we thought was right. That it would turn into a movement, we hadn't anticipated. I believe it is the wishes of the families waiting for their loved ones to come home that did the trick. We have become part of so many families, in a way," Sood thinks.
Glad to take up a cause with a childhood friend, Sood says their rapport makes working easier. Goel and Sood's friendship goes way back to when they were kids. "We are family friends. Sonu is from Mogha, while my family lived in Chandigarh. Every summer, we would visit each other. We grew up climbing trees and spending a lot of time in the outdoors. Then, I went on to become a restaurateur and Sonu became an actor. This pandemic effort revived our friendship, I would say," says Goel.
After the first successful Ghar Bhejo campaign, the pair officially adopted all Shramik trains originating from Mumbai to provide food and water to migrants going home. As time went by, they even organised iftari during Ramzan, fed cats stranded on Filmistan Studio grounds and even provided drinking water and footwear to Don Bosco shelter in Borivli. All the projects were run under Goel's 35-year-old family trust. "When I was providing meals from the kitchens of my restaurants, friends and family pooled in resources and soon, we had corporates ready to offer their CSR corpus. The happiest journey is always the one home, and we are glad we were able to send the migrants back. We are now helping with medical and educational efforts," says Goel. Currently, they are working on digging gully pockets in Raigad, an area that sees water shortage from February to July.
Since the lockdown, their efforts have provided 60 lakh meals, serviced four lakh passengers and relief camps have been set up in Thane, Vashi, Dahisar and Nasik highway.
Beguiling his star status, Sood says matter-of-factly that some of the requests he received were outrageous. "A couple wanted me to convince their parents to let them marry while another request was to help someone source liquor," he laughs, "That they believe that I can make it all happen is faith they are showing in us. One family named a child after me. I wish my mother was here to see this for real but her blessings are working."
"God made me a restaurateur to prepare me to serve in 2020. I understand the value of food; it is not only about serving the privileged in happy times," Goel says, to which Sood adds, "Yes. This phase is surely more satisfying that making a 100-crore blockbuster movie."
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