36 years of Coolie accident: Amitabh Bachchan expresses gratitude to fans whose prayers kept him alive
It has been more than three decades when that near-death Coolie accident took place back in 1982. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was fatally injured on the sets of his film Coolie which had him dead for a couple of minutes in the ICU. While shooting for an intense fight scene with co-star Puneet Issar at Bangalore University campus, he misjudged a jump and landed abruptly which hurt him badly. He was rushed to a hospital in Mumbai and he had to undergo multiple surgeries. After spending a number of days in hospital, on August 2, Amitabh Bachchan finally moved a muscle.
The superstar is still grateful to his millions of fans who prayed for him while he was battling for his life. The 75-year-old expressed gratitude on Thursday towards his fans whose prayers kept him alive.
"To them that have sent greetings for my 2nd birthday Aug 2, a recovery from my Coolie accident, I send my gracious thanks .. it shall be difficult for me to acknowledge and thank all .. but I do know that it was your prayers that saved my life," tweeted the 'Thugs of Hindostan' star.
He also mentioned about the incident in his blog, he wrote, "There is enormous amounts of celebratory mention and wishes for the 2nd of August, the day when I recovered from my Coolie accident .. to live another day , through the prayers of the millions that saved my life through their devotion to the Almighty .. a most heavy debt that I shall happily bear, and ever be in a state of never being able to repay it ."
"There is sufficient media coverage on those times and days .. for me then to elaborate would be boring and repetitious .. best then to avoid and be in gratitude and prayer," Big B added.
The Shehanshah of Bollywood further said that someday, he will talk about the episode in detail.
"There is a long history to the events of those times .. one that shall not be able to be narrated here .. though I do make insincere promises that someday they shall be spoken of ," the veteran actor wrote.
On a related note, the incident took place when the actor was accidentally punched in the gut while shooting an intense fighting sequence opposite co-star Puneet Issar, which resulted in an internal abdominal injury. The actor was reportedly declared clinically dead for a few minutes before being put on the ventilator.
Also, during his recovery, Amitabh Bachchan was infused with 60 bottles of blood among which one carried a Hepatitis B infected blood. Unfortunately, Big B got infected with the deadly disease though he recovered from his injuries.
In an interview with Indiatimes, he said, “After my accident on the sets of Coolie, I was infused with the blood of about 200 donors and 60 bottles of blood were injected into my system. The Australian antigen Hepatitis B had only been detected three months ago and it was very new for being detected also among various tests needed to be carried out before giving blood to another patient.”
The cirrhosis damaged 75 per cent of his liver. However, Amitabh Bachchan was able to fight the disease and recovered from the life-threatening situation. He came back on the sets on January 7 93.
Surprisingly, a night before the Coolie accident, actress Smita Patil called him expressing concerns about his health. Narrating the incident, Amitabh Bachchan said, "I was in Bangalore shooting for ‘Coolie’ once. Late into the night at around 2 am I received call in my hotel room. The receptionist informed me that it was Smita Patil on the line. I was shocked as I had never spoken or talked to her at such a time. Thinking that it would be an important one, I answered."
“Smita asked me if I was alright and in good health. I answered yes and she said that she just had a bad dream about me and that’s the reason behind calling up so late in the night. The next day I had my accident," he added.
On the work front, the megastar is currently shooting for Ayan Mukerji's next 'Brahmastra' which also features Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.
(With ANI Inputs)
