Actor Sonu Sood helps ‘Warrior Aaji’ take martial arts classes for children in Pune

Amidst the lockdown, about a month ago, a video of an 85-year-old woman doing ‘Lathi-Kathi,’ ancient Indian armed martial arts, went viral on social media. Seeing Pune resident Shanta Balu Pawar’s unrivalled skill, many prominent people of Mumbai came forward to help her, including the pandemic warrior actor Sonu Sood.

Thanks to Sonu, Shanta or ‘Warrior Aaji’ is now a martial arts and self-defence trainer for children. The reel-life villain has turned a real-life hero during the lockdown, when he started many initiatives for migrant labourers who were suffering the most, especially in helping them reach their hometown.

The actor had approached the woman a month ago and helped her monetarily while also offering to help her train children in the martial art form. Meanwhile, along with the NGO Nirmitree, local corporator Yogesh Dattatray Sasane also helped find a suitable space to take the classes.

In fact, the soon-to-be training ground on the premises of Savali Foundation was inaugurated on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on Saturday.

“Aaji lives close to where I stay, and I got to know more about her after the viral video… Within some days, I was approached by volunteers of Nirmitee, and I readily offered to give Aaji space to conduct her classes for Lathi-Kathi,” Yogesh Dattatray Sasane told The Indian Express.

“The existing premises of Savali Foundation is for recreational and development activities for women, such as karate, yoga, teaching, beauty parlour training, and computer classes. I proposed that I will give the open space to her for free, and the help from Sonu Sood goes directly to Aaji,” he added.

As of now, classes will be held three times a week with a batch of 30 students for a session of one hour. In fact, Shanta was offered to teach on some days at a nearby school.

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The viral video that was initially shared by actress Aishwarya Kale garnered a lot of responses from personalities, including Riteish Deshmukh and Richa Chadha.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, along with city MLA Chetan Tupe, had visited Aaji at her residence in Hadapsar earlier in July, gave her Rs 1 lakh, and also gifted her traditional saree-choli and bangles.

Aaji said that she would be using the money to repair her house and for her grandchildren’s education.

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