India is currently going through the second surge in COVID-19 cases, with the number of cases crossing the limit of three lakh in a day. The Hindi Film Industry has faced its wrath too, with even two dozen actors, directors and other artists, including Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar, Arjun Rampal, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Fatima Sana Shaikh, having caught the virus in the last two months. While music composer Shravan Rathod recently succumbed to the virus, most of our artists have been able to emerge victorious on the other side, and now even helping others to achieve the same. Here are some Bollywood celebrities who are, in their own ways, trying to help the citizens of this country in these tough times.
Sonu Sood: Sonu was the first person who took over the responsibility of helping migrant labourers reach their home last year. The actor emerged as the messiah of the poor, extending help to not just labourers but to students, unemployed people and even arranging medical supplies. Recently, Sonu started a vaccination drive across various remote villages and cities so as to propagate the awareness surrounding the vaccines and getting people the doses that they need so much. The actor even tested Covid positive post his first dose of vaccination but recovered soon after and is continuing his good work.
Got my vaccine today and now it's time to get whole of my country vaccinated. Started the biggest vaccination drive "Sanjeevani" which will bring awareness and get our people vaccinated. @IlaajIndia @Network18Group @SoodFoundation pic.twitter.com/lxhRv004De
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) April 7, 2021
Priyanka Chopra: She is currently not in India, but Priyanka has been amplifying requests and collating Covid resources from across the country so that people in need can go on to her profile and find supplies as per their requirement. Using her global reach, Priyanka is shedding light on the need of community involvement to help our fellow citizens during this time and leading by example.
Resources across the country are being stretched beyond their limits, and it’s amazing to see so many step forward with information about critical needs.
— PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) April 20, 2021
Sharing here the ones that we have been able to verify to a certain degree as things are changing by the minute. https://t.co/uqA5n63GaI
Akshay Kumar: Yesterday, cricketer Gautam Gambhir took to his Twitter account to share that Akshay Kumar has committed help worth Rs 1 crore to his foundation that is helping the needy with food, medicines and oxygen supply. The actor had himself caught the virus while he was shooting for his next, Ram Setu and then tested negative for Covid some days later, which was announced by his wife Twinkle Khanna.
Every help in this gloom comes as a ray of hope. Thanks a lot @akshaykumar for committing Rs 1 crore to #GGF for food, meds and oxygen for the needy! God bless 🙏🏻 #InThisTogether @ggf_india
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) April 24, 2021
Gurmeet Choudhary: When Sonu fell prey to Covid, Gurmeet came up to take over the responsibility and carry forward the good work that Sonu had been doing for the last year. Gurmeet and wife Debina, who both tested Covid positive recently and recovered, even donated their plasmas in order to help people and raise awareness. He is using his social media to reach out to people and arrange for services including beds, injections and oxygen tanks.
Sushmita Sen: Two days ago, Sushmita took to Twitter to share that after seeing the oxygen crisis in Delhi, she had managed to organise a few oxygen cylinders but was unable to arrange for its transportation to Delhi. When questioned by a user that why was she not helping Mumbai first, the actress had replied that she had checked and knew that Mumbai was in a better position. After much help from a Twitter friend, Sushmita was able to send those cylinders to Delhi overnight.
A super happy update!!!🤗 Thanks to the help from our Twitter friend @shweta_jerry the oxygen cylinders are finally enroute to Delhi Hospital from Mumbai!! Shweta & her colleague went out of their way to make this possible overnight! 👏 Deeply grateful 🙏😇
— sushmita sen (@thesushmitasen) April 23, 2021
Bhumi Pednekar: Having recovered from Covid-19 recently herself, Bhumi took to her social media a week ago to announce that she will be highlighting requests for medical supplies and would be trying her best to verify the sources too. She even posted up a form to accumulate plasma donors across the country and has been following up on it continuously with a team of volunteers to promote plasma donation across the country from recovered patients.
Sonam Kapoor: Sonam has been using her Instagram for the last five days to amplify plasma, injections and other requests. The actress opened her social media to people and asked them to tag her in their requests so that she can reshare their stories and use her reach to help the ones in need. Just like Sonam, Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif are also using their social media to highlight and amplify Covid resources and requests.
Image source: SpotboyE archive