Sonu sood is nothing if not gracious. The square-jawed he-man of such features as “Tutak Tutak Tutiya” (2016) and “Kung Fu Yoga” (2017) says that when tax inspectors stormed his house, he tried to make it the best possible experience for them. When the uninvited guests left three days later, having kept the 48-year-old actor’s family locked inside and taken their phones and personal papers, he told them he would miss them. The taxmen were less kind. They say Mr Sood is enmeshed in a web of “bogus” dealings, has collected foreign donations without the proper licences and owes $2.7m in taxes.
Before covid-19 Mr Sood was a second-tier star, acting more in regional-language films than in the mainstream Hindi flicks watched by the whole country. But the pandemic made him a true-life all-India hero. First with his own money, then with millions donated by admirers, Mr Sood rushed to help the needy, starting last year with the thousands of migrant workers left stranded by the sudden, total lockdown of Indian cities. The foundation he started ultimately helped some 90,000 people find their way home and gave 4m meals to the hungry. So much cash has poured in that the charity now grants scholarships to covid orphans, sponsors jobs, pays for medical care, runs a blood bank and is building a hospital.
