“Aug 2nd my rebirth in sense…” With this tweet, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan summed up what he felt on the same day 33 years ago. It was on this day that city doctors performed a life-saving surgery on the ‘Big B’ so he could continue to entertain audiences for many more decades.
Mr. Bachchan suffered a severe intestinal rupture on July 26, 1982, during the filming of the iconic movie Coolie . His co-actor Puneet Issar accidentally punched him hard in the abdomen during the shooting of a fight sequence on Bangalore University’s Jnanabharathi campus.
The mega-star was immediately rushed to St. Philomena’s Hospital, Vivek Nagar, where a resident urologist performed an emergency surgery, saving him in the nick of time. Mr. Bachchan was later airlifted to Mumbai, where he recovered.
His fans and family celebrate August 2 as his second birthday – the day he underwent the surgery that saved him.
Mr. Bachchan, on Sunday, recounted the life-threatening accident and tweeted his gratitude for all those who prayed for his recovery in 1982. “To all that give me prayers and wish .. Aug 2nd my rebirth in sense .. I fold my hands in gratitude and .. ” He even posted a picture of him returning home after recovery that day. “Aug 2nd 1982 ..I live after Coolie accident .. on returning home saw Father in tears for first time ever!!” he said.
Doctors remember
The doctors treating him at St Philomena’s Hospital were urologists H.S. Bhat and Joseph Antony. While Dr. Bhat is no more, Dr Antony’s family members recollected how he initially did not know who Mr Bachchan was. “He treated every patient with care and Mr. Bachchan received the same treatment,” a family member said.
Next film shelved
Members of the film fraternity were not to be left behind. Rajendra Singh Babu, president of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, said it was his production firm that arranged for the logistics of the shoot for ‘Coolie’ in the city. “We initially assumed that it was a minor accident. It was in the evening that we realised that it was life threatening after the internal bleeding in the intestine did not stop,” he said.
He was to direct Mr. Bachchan’s next film titled Inquilab Zindabad in Hindi, which was shelved after the accident.
