From the India Today archives (1982) | Coolie mishap: When Amitabh Bachchan had a brush with death (2024)

(NOTE: This is a reprint of an article that was published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated August 31, 1982)

For millions of movie-goers, the scene was a familiar one. The tall, lanky frame of matinee idol Amitabh Bachchan draped over a hospital bed while white-coated figures hovered anxiously around. This time, however, there was a critical difference—no cameras panned from the shadows and the scene being played out in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Bombay's Breach Candy Hospital was tragically real. Bachchan, the near indestructible superstar who had battled seemingly insurmountable odds in thousands of celluloid frames was now fighting the most epic and riveting battle of all—for his life.

Since July 27, when he underwent an emergency operation in Bangalore after an incident during shooting, Bachchan had hovered on the edge of the final precipice while a team of specialists battled to keep him alive. All across the country, millions of shell-shocked fans and the entire film industry held its collective breath while the star's heroic and lonely struggle was relayed daily onto the front pages of national newspapers. Childhood friend Rajiv Gandhi broke off his trip to the United States to fly back to Bombay to be at Bachchan's bedside. And among Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's first appointments after her return was a flying visit to see the stricken star.

But though the Gandhi visits were brief affairs, doctors have expressed concern at the constant visiting that has resulted in situations that can only be described as callous. Disregarding Bachchan's condition, his fellow-patients, and the strain on his family, groups of "concerned visitors" have barged in at all hours of the day to try and see the star. While fans were turned away, the problem with film personalities and celebrities is acute. When Rajiv arrived, almost half-a-dozen film personalities pushed their way into the ICU behind him. Finally Bachchan's wife Jaya, her eyes dark-rimmed from lack of sleep, was forced to physically hustle Bombay Mayor P.S. Pai, his family members, music director Kalyanji and a number of other people. But no sooner had they been pushed out, when a scuffle broke out outside the ICU as Janata Party member Babanrao Dhakne tried to barge his way through with the help of his burly bodyguard. "This is absolutely ridiculous and heartless," said BPCC(I) chief Murli Deora who had to push Dhakne out, "they are endangering the life of the man they claim to be praying for."

Well-wishers: The amount of flowers brought into the hospital was staggering. In the three visiting hours each day, Bachchan's wife Jaya, brother Ajitabh, and parents and sister-in-law were flooded with get-well cards and flowers from well-wishers. The diversity of his fan-following was proof of the man's overwhelming popularity: one morning last fortnight. Jaya Bachchan was approached on the second floor landing by a girl who had to be supported by a nurse to walk. The young spastic handed Jaya a card, stuttered out a prayer for Bachchan, and was helped out.

On another occasion Manmohan Desai, who along with a number of other producers including Yash Chopra, Yash Johar and Prakash Mehra, kept a near-constant vigil outside the hospital door, was accosted by a 10-year-old dressed in rags. Crying bitterly, the boy told Desai that he was willing to give up any part of his body which could be used to save his hero. Said a close colleague of Desai's: "We hear these kind of words in the films we make, but it was unbelievably moving to hear the sincerity in that poor boy's voice."

Further afield, Bombay was studded with hoardings and posters praying for the superstar's recovery. In the city's dailies get-well advertisem*nts appeared regularly, and in temples like the city's famous Siddhi Vinayak hugely attended prayer meetings were held to invoke blessings for the actor. One parent reported that his eight-year-old fainted on the roadside when she heard the misleading newspaper report that Bachchan had actually succumbed.

Widespread feeling: According to producer-director Ramesh Sippy, a similar rumour in Singapore last fortnight led to the closure of almost every shop owned by the substantial Indian community there. "This could not have happened for anybody else in the history of Indian cinema," says Sippy. "The kind of emotions that Amitabh has evoked among Indians across the globe are absolutely phenomenal."

Small wonder that medical progress reports were devoured and discussed as avidly as stockbrokers discuss market share prices. None followed the struggle for life more keenly than Bombay's film producers for whom Bachchan represents a bottomless gold-mine. His lean, brooding looks and his authoritative acting have made Bachchan not just a cult figure but the highest paid star (currently estimated at Rs 35 lakh per film) in Indian film history and keeping vigil with his fans were feverishly anxious producers who have crores riding on the star. Now, suddenly, Bachchan's larger-than-life screen image had been rudely stripped away and he lay stricken in a hospital bed, a mere mortal, vulnerable and dangerously ill.

Contrary to popular impression, the financial stake which rides on Bachchan's health is lower than ever before. Riding at the pinnacle of a career which has defined the state-of-the-art for the entire film industry, Bachchan decided last January to reduce the killing pressure of work he had undertaken by indiscriminately signing on for projects. Bent on cutting down on the schedule which forced him to work up to three shifts a day after a serious bout of asthma in Delhi, the superstar spent the last few months completing existing projects and undertaking no new ones. As a result, when he had his accident in end-July, Bachchan had only two incomplete films on the sets, Coolie and Ramesh Bahl's Pukaar. Sippy's Shakti was already complete, Nastik was completed except for the dubbing, and one Madras film Andha Kanoon which featured Bachchan in a guest appearance, had a few sequences left to be shot.

Large stakes: But for a film industry which has come to depend on Bachchan as its only instantly saleable name, the stake in the actor was much greater than just an immediate matter of blocked finances. Leading producer Prakash Mehra had planned two films around him Sharabee, and Kayaar, Ramesh Sippy was already planning his next venture Shatranj with Bachchan in the lead. Director Raj Sippy has cast him for Taala Chaabi and Amyad Khan's Lambee Chaudee and a host of other producers were reportedly waiting in the sidelines for him to start signing films once again.

With doctors predicting a minimum six-month convalescence and possibly a whole year off work for the star, it was clear that most producers would have to hold their horses. "But this delay means nothing at all," said Yash Johar emphatically, "anybody can afford to wait eight to ten months with a man like Amitabh in your picture. Today he has eased the number of pictures in hand, but in the past he has been ill for three and four months at a time when he used to sign ten times the number of films, and nothing happened to anybody."

Denying that the film industry was only worried about its investment in the man, Rati Agnihotri, who stars opposite Bachchan in Coolie, asserted: "From my conversations with producers I am certain that they are not bothered about their films so much as they are about the man himself. Not a single producer has spoken to me about his movie. I think they have all developed a genuine liking for Amitabh."

Fight sequence: The key to Bachchan's survival is the medical drama that accompanied the star's most exacting real-life role. The high points of his battle were:

July 24: Bachchan was in Bangalore shooting Manmohan Desai's film Coolie and the tragedy struck during a fight sequence being filmed at the city's Jnana Bharati University campus. The university library had been rearranged to resemble the inside of a bank and the script called for the villain, played by Puneet Issar, an experienced stunt man, to kick Bachchan in the stomach. Bachchan was required to spin around from the blow and fall heavily on a steel table. In typical fashion, Bachchan refused to let a double take over and did the scene himself.

While landing on the table, however, his lower abdomen came in painful contact with the edge of the table. At first, nobody took note of the event. Desai applauded the star's realistic acting but stopped half-way when he and the rest of the crew realised that something was seriously wrong. Bachchan, according to eye-witness reports, stood up, took two steps rubbing his stomach and then crumpled to the floor, his face contorted in agony. In the belief that it was a temporary and minor injury, Bachchan was rushed back to the West End Hotel suite he had occupied for the past two weeks.

When the pain failed to subside, a doctor who was a family acquaintance was called in to examine the star. The doctor felt nothing serious was wrong and prescribed sedatives to let the star sleep it off. It was now around 8 p.m., almost five hours since the incident had taken place and his condition seemed to have worsened. Bachchan's actress-wife Jaya Bachchan, who had flown into Bangalore with their two children to spend the Id holidays with her husband, was becoming increasingly anxious. She later told doctors that he spent the first night in extreme agony.

July 25: The next morning, Sunday, Bachchan's personal physician, Dr K. M. Shah, flew down from Bombay in reply to an urgent SOS. He expressed his unhappiness with Bachchan's condition but being a general practitioner he lacked the authority to take the matter further. His concern, however, was enough to produce some results. The star, still obviously in excruciating agony, was rushed to St Philomena's hospital for an X-ray and admittance. But even after the X-rays, an air of optimism prevailed. A senior surgeon examined the star and stated that. "'There is no cause for alarm". The X-rays failed to show any serious injury but this could be because the patient was not X-rayed properly. In an erect posture the physical examination revealed a tender spot in the area where the star had come in contact with the table but little else.

Medical experts at the hospital, however, are convinced that Bachchan should have been given a more thorough examination, and subsequent facts seem to support their view.

July 26: On Monday, with Bachchan showing no signs of improvement, though he was fully conscious, another X-ray was performed which again either failed to reveal any serious complications or was not examined carefully enough. In fact, the X-ray shows gas trapped under the diaphragm which could only have come from a ruptured intestine. A Bombay doctor later said: "In our profession we treat a patient from the day he comes to us and don't look back for causes or try to blame earlier treatment. But there is no denying that the X-ray taken the day after the accident shows signs of gas collected under the diaphragm, a sure sign of perforation or leakage." Some doctors however feel that any patient in agony from such an injury for more than six hours normally needs surgery or a test of abdominal contents to detect infection.

By now, Bachchan had developed what is referred to medically as "board-like rigidity" of the stomach and the injury area had distended. But still the medical bulletin issued by the hospital stated that the star was "improving". In fact, three days of untreated intestinal leakage had resulted in severe internal infection and peritonitis, the inflammation of the abdominal lining. The rupture of the large intestine, had spilt faecal contents, dangerously toxic, into the abdomen resulting in septicemia. At the time, none of this was known and Dr Shah was in a quandary.

He felt instinctively that something was seriously wrong but did not know whether flying the star to Bombay would aggravate the injury. Nevertheless, he consulted Jaya and seats were booked on the Monday evening flight. By the evening, however, the patient's condition had deteriorated markedly and the seats were cancelled. Though it had been two days since the incident, the outside world, including the media, remained in the dark. On instructions from the star's family, the hospital had kept a tight-lipped silence on Bachchan's condition except for terse words of encouragement that turned out to be hopelessly false.

July 27: Things started moving on Tuesday when anxious messages from Rajiv Gandhi in the US arrived and Chief Minister Gundu Rao and senior state officials got into the act. Dr Shah took advantage of the sudden air of urgency and called in Dr H.S. Bhatt, one of the leading urologists in the country who had attended the late Jayaprakash Narayan. Bhatt's diagnosis was brisk and decisive. Bachchan, he said, required an immediate operation. Even then, there was some agonising delay over the possibility of flying in surgeons from Bombay. But by now Bachchan's condition was too serious for the 12-hour delay that this would have entailed. He was running a high fever, vomitting repeatedly and by 2.30 that afternoon his heartbeat had run to 180 as against the normal 72. He had also slipped into a coma and appeared to be sinking.

Frantically, the operation theatre was readied and the star was wheeled in. Directing the operation were Bhatt and Dr Joseph Anthony, a general surgeon aided by Dr Jai Singh. Waiting anxiously in the ante-room of the operation theatre were Jaya, Amitabh's mother Teji, his brother Ajitabh and film producer Yash Johar. Eyewitness reports obtained by India Today indicate that the operating theatre resembled a railway station. Several junior doctors and nurses hovered around the table as vicarious spectators - a critical lapse of discipline considering the seriousness of the star's condition and the negative effect it could have on the actual operation.

Heavy infection: One eyewitness states that when the incision into Bachchan's abdomen was made, "pus burst out like a fountain". The team of surgeons discovered a hole in the small intestine where it joined up with the large intestine. The pus was cleaned up and the hole stitched and a tube was inserted in the abdomen to allow the excess pus to seep out. Some doctors, however, feel that one drain was not enough and at least three should have been inserted to reduce the chances of infection. The operation took a total of three hours and before it ended at 7 p.m., three specialists from Bombay had flown in to observe the final stages. They were Dr M.K. Gandhi, chief of cardiology, Suri Hospital, Dr Sharad Shah, a gastroenterologist, and Dr Shirish Bhansali, an abdominal surgeon.

By now, the word had spread and pools of anxious fans had gathered outside the hospital in spite of the pounding rain. The crucial vigil had begun. The first 24 hours at the most vital hours after any major operation and it was now a question of waiting and hope and prayer. Manmohan Desai had been visiting the Raja Rajeshwari temple in Bangalore every day, praying for the star's life and giving daily offerings at the temple.

July 28: By midnight Bachchan was given a 50 per cent chance of survival by the doctors but next morning ushered in further complications. His lungs had deteriorated and pneumonia was suspected. Further, the star was becoming increasingly delirious. The doctors went into a huddle regarding the advisability of examining his chest through a bronchoscope, a major decision at that stage of Bachchan's struggle for survival. The decision was put off till later but blood samples were taken for blood-gas tests (to determine the blood acidity, oxygen and carbon dioxide tension in the blood).

The tests revealed that Bachchan's life still hung by a very slender thread. He was immediately put onto nebulised oxygen (with a water vapour content) to keep the lung secretions from hardening. Bachchan, in a state of delirium, had bouts of violence, trying to snatch at tubes connected to him and medical paraphernalia lying around him. "He was controlled only by his brother and Jaya," said a source. "His mother Teji would call him 'Raja' while Jaya called him 'Amitji'. Only the family could manage him, nobody else."

July 29: By Thursday night, with Bachchan's condition getting worse - doctors were now concerned about his kidneys - a decision was taken to fly the star to Bombay though the proposed shift was kept a strict secret.

July 30: By Friday morning, Bachchan's condition had improved although he had developed slight jaundice. It was decided to fly him out on the evening Airbus flight rather than a chartered flight in which the ride would have been bumpy. Pressed to explain the reason for the decision one surgeon who attended on him said that Bachchan's platelet count was low. Platelets are responsible for the coagulation of blood and not enough platelets were available in Bangalore, neither was the facility for separation of these plate-like cells which requires a centrifuge. Bombay was the logical choice but the Bombay airbus flight was three hours late and by the time three rows of seats had been removed to accommodate the mini intensive care unit, it was well past midnight.

July 31: In typical film fashion, Bachchan's removal from the hospital was conducted like a top secret operation. While the phalanx of reporters and photographers waited in ambush at the front door, Bachchan's stretcher-borne figure was spirited out through the rear door and into a waiting ambulance. A police escort accompanied the cavalcade to the airport and at 12.40 Bachchan took off for Bombay and the next act in the life and death drama.

Yet, even as the drama shifted to Bombay, it left behind some vital and nagging questions, foremost among them being the initial medical care given to the star. Medical experts almost unanimously feel that if Bachchan had been operated on the first two days after he was admitted, he would have been back on the sets of Coolie in a six week's time. However, value judgments are easy to make in hindsight and the team of doctors at St Philomena's insist that every possible thing was done to conform to medical standards.

August 2: Nonetheless, Bachchan had to undergo a second major operation soon after he arrived at Breach Candy for a "burst abdomen" when stitches administered in Bangalore gave way. Bachchan's second operation in Bombay turned into an eight-hour battle for life and at the end of it, he was still very much on the critical list. By last week, Bachchan's glassed-off booth in the intensive care unit on the second floor of Breach Candy Hospital was a maze of machinery and intricate life-support systems. Tubes leading to his abdomen fed antibiotics directly onto the site of the infection while others were required to flush it out twice daily. A tracheal tube had been inserted in his throat to facilitate breathing since the star's asthmatic tendency puts an additional strain on his lungs. A respirator strapped to his chest ensured a regular air supply and a string of monitors wired to other parts of his body kept constant check on unforeseen complications developing. But though the mood was sombre, it was hardly one of defeat. Doctors felt that he had crossed the hump and the worst was over.

Improvement: Three days after the operation, Bachchan was able to sit up for the first time for physiotherapic massages listening to light jazz on a Walkman and writing notes to family members. By the time Mrs Gandhi flew into Bombay to visit the star on August 8, he was being fed small doses of liquids - a sign that his intestines had resumed working. Doctors, however, insist that it will be at least another fortnight before he can be declared out of danger.

"It is only his will-power that has pulled him through," said Yash Johar, who had rushed to Bangalore with spare doses of platelet-rich plasma and had stayed with the family through their most anxious moments. "If it had been anybody else, he would have succumbed," added Ramesh Sippy. "You don't know what a fighter Amitabh is. He just never gives up."

(The article was published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated August 31, 1982)

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