Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 2, 2015)

Salman Khan does not need any more fans than he already has. But now an entire village in Karjat has joined the ranks of his admirers.

Salman led the entire unit of his film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, for which he is currently shooting in Karjat, to village Hatluni late last month to paint the houses and distribute sarees to village women.

The visit to the village was surprise for everyone, including the film's leading lady Kareena Kapoor, director Kabir Khan, and composer Himesh Reshammiya, was announced suddenly after a day's pack-up.

The unit was helped by a bunch of professional painters and the 30-member group managed to paint every house, the village library, and even the water tank, in under five hours. Sallu cherry-topped the day by gifting sarees to the village women, and engaging the boys in a game of football.

The houses, mostly made of mud and wood and with thatched or tin roofs are all now brightly coloured in pinks and blues. One of the houses even got a painting done by Salman as a wall-hanging.

The idea to paint the village struck Salman when he was stationed at ND Studios, Karjat, flitting between two films, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.Just outside the studio gates, a few lanes away, is the village of Hatluni, which the actor would pass on his way to and from work.

"There were about 30 of us, and led by Salman, we painted the entire village in one five-hour stretch. The results are fantastic," said Kabir Khan.

When Mirror visited the village, the houses looked picture perfect.

And the ladies were quick to emerge in their saris and pose in front of their newly painted homes. "When I saw my husband walking back with Salman Khan, I was astounded and even more so when he told us that the actor was going to paint our house," said Roshni Devi.

Many of the villagers are part-time workers at the studio and Salman knows them well. So he was in no hurry to say goodbye. "We played football with him till midnight," said Kishore, a nine-year-old who insists he's never looked at Salman as a star. "I've sat in his lap, held his hand and dragged him to play with me. He never says no to me," he said.

Baby Lakshmi Devi, 89, said she was the first woman to welcome the star into the village with an aarti. "The security guards surrounding Salman Baba were not letting me meet him. But then he saw me standing there with my pooja thali and told his guards to move aside," she said. "He responded by putting an arm around me and saying, 'Changli diste bai'."

One of the more creative artistes from the crew had drawn a blue Ganesha on a piece of wood lying around. Spotting it, Salman decided to nail it on one of the freshly painted walls. "Bhai put it up himself," said Janki, the proud house owner.

The villagers have only one complaint against the star. "Salman doesn't speak Marathi too well, so I don't think he understands everything I tell him," said Lakshmi Devi. But her daughter-in-law does not agree entirely. "He always asks us how we are doing and his Marathi has definitely improved over time," she said.