Mumbai, India

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan recently suffered a major injury while filming an action sequence for Project K in Hyderabad. According to his blog post, the 80-year-old suffered a muscle tear to his right rib cage and is currently recovering at his home in Mumbai, Jalsa. 

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This, however, is not the first time the actor suffered a major injury while shooting for a film. Back in 1982, he grievously injured himself while filming an action sequence for Coolie, directed by Manmohan Desai. The shocking incident brought the nation to a standstill as millions of Big B fans prayed for the Angry Young Man's well-being.

What actually happened on Coolie set?

While shooting an intense fight sequence for Coolie with Puneet Issar at the Bangalore University campus, Big B misjudged a jump and landed abruptly on a sharp object, with its edge hitting his abdominal part and causing massive internal haemorrhage and bleeding. Bachchan was then rushed to a nearby hospital, where he had to go through multiple surgeries. Much to everyone's shock, he was even declared "clinically dead" for a few minutes before being put on the ventilator. The doctors revived him by giving him an adrenaline injection. 

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What Amitabh had to say about the near-death experience?

Years later, Big B opened up about the harrowing accident in a blog post. His post read, "I went into almost a haze and a coma-like situation. Within five days of coming into Breach Candy, I had another surgery and didn't come out of that one for a very, very long time and I was clinically dead for a couple of minutes. Then Dr Wadia, who looked after me and is an absolute life-saver, just said 'I’m going to take a last chance' and he started pumping cortisone/ adrenaline* injections into me one after another almost, 40 ampules of it, with the hope that something would happen and then I got revived."

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How did Jaya Bachchan react to the harrowing news?

During an episode of Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Jaya Bachchan revealed how she reacted when her brother-in-law told her about Amitabh's condition. "When I reached the hospital, my brother-in-law said, 'Where were you, we were searching for you? We have been looking for you?' And I said I went home to see the kids. Then he sort of took me up, he asked me to be brave and then I am going to tell you. I was like, no it’s not possible, he's not going to do this. I know it's not possible."

"I had the prayer book in my hand, hanuman chalisa. Dr Dastoor passed by and said, 'It’s only your prayers that’ll help.' But I couldn't read it. I couldn't see what they were doing but I could see that they were pumping his heart, they were giving him injections. And after they gave up, I saw his toe move, and I said, 'He moved, he moved.' And then he was finally revived."

When Simi further quipped Jaya and asked how she felt internally when everything was unfolding, she said, "I think I had just stopped thinking about what could have happened or what can happen. I sort of always felt that he'll fight. He'll overcome all his problems. And because in Bangalore, he was very bad. There were certain things he said to me, that were there in my mind and there was no way that he was going to let us down. That was the faith I had."

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Amitabh Bachchan filmography

Amitabh Bachchan was last seen on the silver screen in Uunchai, which was helmed by Sooraj Barjatya and also starred Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Danny Denzongpa, Parineeti Chopra, Neena Gupta and Sarika. Next, he has a couple of cameo appearances lined up for 2023. He will be giving special appearances in Ganapath, The Umesh Chronicles and Ghoomer. In Project K, he will play a pivotal role alongside, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani. The film is scheduled to hit cinemas on 12 January 2024.