MTV Roadies launched earlier this week with Sonu Sood at the helm of affairs. He replaces Rannvijay Singha in the new season, which has a mix of new and former contestants competing for the title. Shot in South Africa, the show has been garnering positive reviews for its thrill factor and diverse contestants. In a chat with indianexpress.com, the actor said that he connected with the whole format of the show, and felt it was a phenomenal idea. Sonu said “Over the years, I have seen the journey of these very different people as they survived the game. It was a huge responsibility to host it and I would often wonder if I’ll be able to tackle them. Sometimes, you need to get aggressive and it’s not my space and I was worried about how I would handle it. However, the show is totally revamped and it’s more real now, so it was quite fun.”
Sharing that the format this year will have old and new contestants, which he calls a ‘brilliant move’. The actor added he also saw the contestants changing for the good, as they survived the long journey. Sonu added that many of them even thanked him for imparting important life lessons to them. On being asked what did he learn from the show, the Happy New Year actor said, “I think one just needs to live their lives. As we grow up we get so busy with things around us, I miss the rawness that life demands. When we were in school or college, we would eat anything, and sleep anywhere. But now, we want the comforts of life. I think I learned to never let that rawness die.”
While the Dabbang actor confessed that he never expected to be on a show like this, he has always been the ‘daring kind’. Sharing that even when he was young, he would take up big challenges, and always be on the lookout to help people or sort their issues. As the topic steered on the subject, we asked him how does it feel to be the ‘real hero’ for his audience.
“I am just humbled and it’s somewhere the wishes and prayers that are doing the trick. There are so many people who have been in touch for the last two years. I think that makes this journey so special, as you connect with the common man. To be able to bring a change is so satisfying,” he said.
Given his ‘messiah’ image in real life, we asked Sonu Sood if it will have a domino effect to the kind of roles he takes up next. Who wants to see a real-life hero play villain? With a laugh, he said, “Nobody is offering me anything negative anymore. Even the parts that I did before the pandemic, it’s been changed. The whole script is being altered to put my part in good light. I think it’s a whole new inning for me and I pray it goes well.”
On a final note, we also asked the actor about the weird requests he often gets on social media. “That I have been dealing with for two years. Sometimes people want me to get them daaru ka theka (alcohol shop), someone wants to meet their wives, and some even want them sent back to their maternal homes. I think that’s the magic of social media where one can open up their heart to me as if I am someone close to them,” he concluded with a smile.
Roadies airs Friday-Sunday, 7 pm on MTV.
