Akshay Kumar, who is shooting for the war drama Kesari in Wai town of Satara district, is fighting not just the historic Battle of Saragarhi for his producers here but is also engaged in a struggle against drought in the district. And the action hero and Bollywood superstar of meaningful cinema took the first step in this direction by helping the villagers of Pimpodi near Wai to undertake a water conservation project at his cost.

What happened was this. The Sarpanch of Pimpodi approached Akshay at the Kesari camp where the cast and crew are camping in makeshift tents put up by Dharma Productions and his own production house, Cape of Good Films. He said that Pimpodi was heading for drought but the entire village was reluctant to come together and work at water conservation and bear the cost. The Sarpanch humbly requested Akshay to come and inspire Pimpodi to work together and achieve this.

The shoot of Kesari is into its second month and Akshay had already noticed the dry and arid land and was aware of what it would cost the village if this season Satara had a deficit rainfall. He agreed to go to Pimpodi and address the villagers. When Akshay arrived there on April 8, he found a small stage had been erected and the entire village was waiting for him. He took the mike and like his character in PadMan addressing the UN on menstrual hygiene and sanitation in India, Akshay spoke to them about the importance of conserving water.

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What Akshay told the villagers was that they needed to do this for themselves, not for Pimpodi, and if they only worked at it for 45 days, by the time the south-west monsoon arrived in Maharashtra, they would be prepared and never have to worry about rain in the future because their wells would be full. Let’s do it, he urged them, let’s make Maharashtra a green belt, let’s inspire other villages to follow our example. He promised them that he would donate Rs. 25 lakh to their cause and join them in the digging operations on April 11 if they began the work that day itself.

So that’s what happened today. The actor joined the villagers of Pimpodi in the work on water conservation. His words had the desired effect and the entire village including some 400 women was toiling in the afternoon sun. Joining Akshay was his old friend, the dashing and dynamic IPS officer Vishwas Nagre Patil, who is the Inspector General of Police of Kolhapur Range. According to the Sarpanch of Pimpodi, the actor who has brought about social awareness in the country towards open defecation and menstrual hygiene with his films Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and PadMan respectively, told the villagers, “I want to see water in your taps... not tears in your eyes.”