Sonu Sood

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sonu Sood

• Does Sonu Sood smoke?: No ^[8]Times of India

• Does Sonu Sood drink alcohol?: No ^[9]Times of India

• Sonu Sood is an Indian actor who mainly works in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films.

• Sonu was born in a upper middle-class family in Moga, Punjab.

  

• After completing his schooling, Sonu worked at his father’s showroom in Moga for a while.

  

• He, then, did his graduation in Electronic Engineering from Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Nagpur.

• When he was in the second year of his college, Sood got motivated to pursue modelling and acting as his career.

  

• After graduating from college, Sonu relocated to Mumbai and began searching for work.

• When he went to Mumbai, Sonu had just Rs. 5500.

• Sonu spent his initial days in Mumbai in a one-room-kitchen apartment with six other boys.

• During his struggling days in Mumbai, Sood did a job in a private firm in South Mumbai to support his everyday expenses.

• As his job involved field work, he got a monthly train pass made from Borivali to Churchgate.

  

• From his office job, he used to earn Rs. 4500 per month.

• Prior to becoming an actor, Sood had participated in the Grasim Mr. India contest and reached the top 5.

• Sonu made his acting debut in 1999 with the Tamil film, “Kallazhagar.”

• In an interview, he revealed that he gave auditions for the Bollywood film Josh (2000), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai; however, he was not selected. Josh was produced by Venus Films, and according to Sonu Sood, he later bought the building in Juhu, Mumbai, where Venus Films had their office.

• He marked his debut in Bollywood in 2002 with the Bollywood film, “Shaheed-E-Azam.”

• Sood shot to fame after appearing in the Bollywood film “Yuva.”

  

• Some of his popular Telugu films include “Athadu,” “Ashok,” “Arundhati,” “Ek Niranjan,” and “Shakti.”

  

• Sonu has worked in many popular Bollywood films, including “Aashiq Banaya Aapne,” “Dabangg,” “Happy New Year,” “Gabbar Is Back,” and “Simmba.”

  

• Sood has also featured in the Chinese film, “Xuanzang.”

  

• Due to the common surnames, once, Miss India finalist and actress Asmita Sood, was mistaken as his sister.

• He has worked in 7 different language movies: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, English, and Punjabi.

• He was supposed to act in the Hindi and the Telugu remake of Zanjeer but had to pull back due to his injury.

• Despite being spiritual, he had given up praying for around 4 years after the demise of his mother.

• His first modelling assignment earned him Rs. 500, which he spent to buy himself a jeans.

• Sonu is very particular about his fitness and hits the gym regularly.

  

• He has appeared on the covers of many popular magazines, like “You & I,” “Health & Nutrition,” “Just Urbane,” and “Krunch Today.”

  

• Sonu is an ardent follower of Lord Ganesha.

  

• Sood is passionate about animals and has a pet dog, Snowy.

  

• He did a film Kung Fu Yoga with Jackie Chan, during the shoot of which they became good friends.

  

• He has a production house called Shakti Sagar Productions.

• Amid the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was hailed for helping migrants. Sonu helped thousands of migrant workers, stranded by the Covid-19 lockdown in Mumbai, return home. While talking about it in an interview, Sonu said,
  

  It gave me sleepless nights when I saw visuals of people walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their villages.”

• On 30 July 2020, he shared a throwback picture of himself on Twitter from a photoshoot in 1997. He also wrote –
  

  And I dared to become an actor.”

  

• The residents of Chelimi tanda under Dubba in Telangana have constructed a temple dedicated to Sonu Sood for his efforts to help migrants reach their native place during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country. Reportedly, the cost of the temple is Rs. 1.7 lakh. ^[10]The Hindu

  

• In September 2022, he launched a free online coaching program for IAS aspirants. He started this project called ‘Sambhavam 2022-23’ with the help of the Divine India Youth Association (DIYA). ^[11]The Economic Times

  

• In June 2023, he came forward to help the victims of the Odisha train tragedy by launching a helpline number; 288 people were killed, and 1,175 were injured after three trains collided in the Balasore district on 2 June 2023.

  

• In August 2023, Team Indian Creative Unity honoured him with a striking pop art creation, spanning an incredible 1.17 lakh sq. ft. of the canvas, in Ajitwal, Moga, Punjab. The artwork captures his cinematic journey as well as his humanitarian work.

• He became the youngest person in the history of Miss World to receive the Humanitarian Award in June 2025.