KOKRAJHAR: Bollywood actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood who attended the closing ceremony of the first Bodoland International Knowledge Festival in Kokrajhar, Assam on Thursday said “being able to bring change in people’s lives is far more satisfying and greater success than being part of Rs 1000 crore film or awards.”
Sonu Sood who is known to help lakhs of migrant workers reach their homes during the Covid time said that period has changed his approach towards life.
He booked chartered flights and busses for the stuck migrant workers when the first lockdown was announced in 2020.
“I have worked in around 100 films in different languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Marathi, Chinese and English. The films got hit. I got success. But when Covid came and I got connected to the common people whom I didn’t know, I never met them and probably will never meet again. I got connected to them and their prayers blessed me. Knowingly or unknowingly, I could bring happiness to their lives. Then I realized the ultimate success of life,” Sonu Sood said addressing a cheering crowd in Kokrajhar on Thursday.
“I was running after in darkness after films for 18 to 20 years. Believe me, you may become a part of the Rs 500 crore or Rs 1000 crore film but that is very small compared to the amount of happiness and success when you can bring a change in a person’s life,” Sonu Sood said.
Further recalling the Covid days, the actor said, his relationship with Bodoland and Assam started in 2020.
“My relation with Bodoland and Assam is not new. When Covid started, I got a tweet that a lot of people from the Northeast were stuck. And it was raining heavily in Mumbai. They were standing below a flyover and someone tweeted they were from Assam and Northeast. It was getting difficult. When I booked chartered flights, the first was for Orissa and the second was for Assam. Many had messaged me that they would come to meet me later. And they came back to me,” Sood, an Electronics Engineering graduate, said.
“Many of them are working with me now and some of them are working with my friends. So, the relation is not new,” he said.
He also urged the youths of Bodoland to help each other and work together towards the development of the region.
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli who was also present during the closing ceremony thanked BTR Chief Pramod Boro for organizing the knowledge festival.
Teli said they are working to expand the Bongaigaon Refinery and after which there will be more employment generation scope in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
BTR Chief Pramod Boro said a lot of positives have come out in the last four days of the knowledge festival. There were more than 25 sessions in the last four days of the Bodoland International Knowledge Festival which was organised by Bodoland University with active support from the BTR Government. (ANI)