Dubai: Indians stranded in the UAE have turned to Bollywood actor Sonu Sood for help.
The ‘Reel-Life’ villain has emerged a real-life superhero for tens of thousands of migrant workers in India after he reunited them with their families amid the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent days Sood, 47, has arranged scores of special buses besides a chartered flight to send home migrant workers stuck in different parts of the country.
On Sunday, he was seen distributing food and essentials at a railway station as hundreds boarded special trains to their home states.
Seeing a saviour in him, stranded Indians in the UAE have also started appealing to him for help via social media.
“SonuSood Dear Sir i stuck in Dubai since March….I have medical emergency kindly help me out,” tweeted Nitin Yadav alongside a selfie with the actor, presumably taken at a mall.
@SonuSood Hi Sir, we need ur help. We 73 people are in Dubai and we want to go back Bangalore. 3rd June is flight but we have not got any confirmation yet, plz help,” tweeted Mohammad Afzal. The 24-year-old told Gulf News he came looking for a job about four months ago but got stuck. “We have a created a WhatsApp group. During our chats someone suggested we seek help from Sonu Sood so I tagged him in my post. He’s gone out of his way to help Indian migrant workers. We are no different from those in India,” Afzal reasoned.
Another desperate plea came from Ramanjot Kaur who has sought the actor’s help to be reunited with his ailing son. “@SonuSood Sir Pease help me. Am single lady stuck in dubai. My son is just 3 years. He has health issue. Please help me. I beg u sir,” she tweeted.
Similarly another Indian, Mukesh Kalwani used the micro-blogging website to draw Sood’s attention towards the plight of people from Maharashtra and Gujarat who have lost jobs and to request repatriation flights for them to Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
Pawan Singh, 30, tweeted his cellphone number in his post addressed to the actor. “Please also help those stranded in Dubai. I have to go home as my mother is seriously ill,” wrote Singh in his native language Hindi.
“We have pinned all our hopes on Sonujii as he’s the only one who understands our pain. I am sure he won’t disappoint us,” Singh, from Lucknow told Gulf News.
Mumbai resident Tapas Guha is also banking on Sood to bring back his son Rohit who’s studying in Dubai.
Surendra Singh, Yogesh Reddy, Akash Saini, Honny Nair, Tauheed Ahmed, Mihir Shetty also figure on the growing list of Indians from various parts of the UAE who are similarly seeking help from the actor instead of Indian Missions..
Thousands of Indians have been repatriated from the UAE under India’s Vande Bharat Mission.
When Gulf News contacted Sood and alerted him about the pleas from stranded Indians in the UAE, the actor requested those seeking help to post their contact details.
“I am getting calls and requests for help. We are trying our best to help as many people as we can. My dream is to help all those in I need, I can’t rest easy,” said Sood over the phone. He has set up a toll free number for stranded migrant Indians in his country.
