Man rolls six miles to cinema in tribute to action hero

An Indian man rolled 10 kilometres to a cinema in honour of his favourite Bollywood actor.

Santosh Sarathe rolled over potholes and through animal droppings on the way to see a film featuring Sunny Deol, reported to be India's answer to Sylvester Stallone.

He claims to have seen every film featuring the actor on the first day of its release and to have viewed each one more than 30 times.

Newspaper Aaj Kal says the barber from Piparia in Madhya Pradesh performed the Dandavati yatra, or rolling the body on the ground, from his home.

Hundreds of people danced to tunes from Deol's latest action movie, Indian, during the journey which took several hours and covered the equivalent of six miles.

Mr Sarathe said: "This is my way of saying thanks to the actor for the immense pleasure his performances have given me. I am his greatest fan in the world."

Businessman Sanjeev Sharma, who was among the spectators, said: "Hindus are known to roll on the ground outside shrines as a token of gratitude to God for favours granted, but this certainly is an unusual feat. People who think the guy has gone a little overboard may be underestimating the power of cinema."