'Both Tiger and the snake are alive'

Salman Khan said he was bitten by a non-venomous snake thrice and was fortunate that the incident was not alarming, even though his family and friends were worried for his health.

The actor was bitten by the snake at his farmhouse near Panvel in Maharashtra's Raigad district. He was taken to a hospital at Kamothe in Navi Mumbai and was discharged on Sunday morning.

Khan was back at his farmhouse, where he celebrated his 56th birthday on December 27 with friends and family.

Talking to the media in the early hours of Monday, the actor said the snake had entered one of the rooms of his Arpita farmhouse -- named after his younger sister -- and he had gone to rescue it when the incident happened.

Salman said he spoke to his worried father, veteran screenwriter Salim Khan, after the incident and assured him that both 'Tiger and snake' were doing fine, referring to his character of Tiger, a spy in the blockbuster films Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai.

"When my dad came to know about this incident, he called to ask if the snake was fine and alive. So I told him both Tiger and the snake are alive. He asked if we hurt the snake, I said we didn't, we handled it with utmost care and love and left it in the jungle," he told reporters.

The Bollywood star said the children were scared when the snake entered the room, following which he went in to take stock of the situation.

"I asked for a stick. The stick that came was a small one so I asked for a longer stick. Then I picked up the snake with a lot of love and brought it out, the snake wrapped itself on the stick and then it started climbing the stick upwards and it came quite close to my hand.

"So I caught it with my other hand and dropped the stick to be able to leave the snake (in the jungle). The locals know what snakes come around, this was a Kandhari snake. So they started screaming 'Kandhari, Kandhari, Kandhari', that's when the snake bit me once."

"Then there was more chaos and that's when the snake bit me again. There was a lot of commotion, people said 'hospital, hospital', that it was venomous, and it bit me again," Salman Khan explained.

The superstar said he was then rushed to the hospital, where he got to know that the snake was not poisonous.

At the hospital, Salman was given an anti-venom shot and was kept under observation for six hours.

On his return to the farmhouse, the actor said the snake was still there.

Khan quipped that he let the snake out in the jungle, before clicking a picture with it.

"My sister was quite scared with the whole incident but I made friends with the snake and got a picture clicked with it before leaving it in the jungle. It must have also bit me because it was scared.

"It was good that this hospital was well equipped, they had an anti-venom for all kinds of snake bites. Our commissioner of police (Navi Mumbai) Bipin Kumar sir, our MLA Sandeep Naik, all rushed to the hospital and it helped a lot," he added.