roached on the second floor landing by a tall, lanky frame of matinee idol girl who had to be supported by a nurse Amitabh Bachchan draped over a

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1 -- -CAL REPORT AMTABH BACHCHAN member Babanrao Dhakne tred to barge hs way through wth the help of hs burly bodyguard. "Ths s absolutely rdculous and heartless," sad BPCC() chef Murl Deora who had to push Dhakne out, "they are endangerng the lfe of the man they clam to be prayng for." Well-wshers: The amount of flowers brought nto the hosptal was staggerng. n the three vstng hours each day, Bachchan's wfe Jaya, brother Ajtabh, and parents and sster-nlaw were flooded wth get-well cards and flowers from well-wshers. The dversty of hs fan-followng was proof of the man's overwhelmng popularty: one mornng OR MLLONS of move-goers, last fortnght, Jaya Bachchan was appthe scene was a famlar one. The roached on the second floor landng by a tall, lanky frame of matnee dol grl who had to be supported by a nurse Amtabh Bachchan draped over a to walk. The young spastc handed Jaya a hosptal bed whle whte-coated fgures card, stuttered out a prayer for Bachchan, - hovered anxously around. Ths tme, how- and was helped out. ever, there was a crtcal dfference-no On another -occason Manmohan cameras panned from the shadows and the Desa, who along wth a number of other scene beng played out n the ntensve care producers ncludng Yash Chopra, Yash unt (CU) of Bombay's Breach Candy Hos- Johar and Prakash Mehra, kept a nearpta1 was tragcally real. Bachchan, the near constant vgl outsde the hosptal door, was ndestructble superstar who had battled accosted by a 10-year-old dressed n rags. seemngly nsurmoutable odds n thous- Cryng btterly, the boy told Desa that he ands of cellulod frames was now fghtng was wllng to gve up any part of hs body the most epc and rvetng battle of all-for whch could be used to save hs hero. Sad hs lfe. a close colleague of Desa's : "We hear these Snce July 27, when he underwent an knd of words n the flms we make, but t emergency operaton n Bangalore after an was unbelevably movng to hear the snncdent durng shootng, Bachchan had certy n that poor boy's voce." hovered on the edge of the fnal precpce Further afeld, Bombay was studded whle a team of specalsts battled to keep wth hoardngs and posters prayng for the hm alve. All across the country, mllons superstar's recovery. n the cty's dales of shell-shocked fans and the entre flm get-well advertsements appeared regularly, ndustry held ts collectve breath whle the and n temples lke the cty's famous Sddh star's heroc and lonely struggle was relayed Vnayak hugely attended prayer meetngs daly onto the front pages of natonal news- were held to nvoke blessngs for the actor. papers. Chldhood frend Rajv Gandh One parent reported that hs eght-year-old broke off hs trp to the Unted States to fly fanted on the roadsde when she heard the back to Bombay to be at Bachchan's bed- msleadng newspaper report that Bachchan sde. And among Prme Mnster ndra had actually succumbed. Gandh's frst appontments after her return Wdespread Feelng: Accordng to -. was a flyng vst to see the strcken star. producer-drector Ramesh Sppy, a smlar But though the Gandh vsts were bref rumour n Sngapore last fortnght led to the affars, doctors have expressed concern at closure of almost every shop owned by the the constant vstng that has resulted n substantal ndan communty there. "Ths could not have happened for anybody else n the hstory of ndan cnema," says Sppy. d of emotons that Amtabh has famly, groups of "concerned vstors" have fghtng the odds evoked among ndans across the globe are stuatons that can only be descrbed as callous. Dsregardng Bachchan's condton, barged n at all hours of the day to try and absolutely phenomenal." see the star. Whle fans were turned away, rmmed from lack of sleep, was forced to Small wonder that medcal progress the problem wth flm personaltes and physcally hustle Bombay Mayor P.S. Pa, reports were devoured and dscussed as -- celebrtes s acute. When Rajv arrved, hs famly members, musc drector Kalyanj avdly as stockbrokers dscuss market share 1 - almost half-a-dozen flm personaltes pus- and a number of other people. But nosooner prces. hed ther way nto the rcu behnd hm. had they been pushea out, when a scuffle None followed the struggle for lfe more F Fnally Bachchan's wfe Jaya, her eyes dark- broke out outsde the CU as Janata Party keenly than Bombay's flm producers for 60 NDlA TODAY, AUGUST 31, 1982

2 1 Stayng Alve When Bachchan underwent an operaton on Monday, August 2, hs lungs got nfected and he developed pneumona. n order to clear away the flud n hs lungs, a tracheal tube fl was nserted: at two-hourly ntervals, he was gken a physotherapc massage and forced to cough out the fluds through the tube. The tube carred ar drectly to hs lungs: t was ftted to a bellows mechansm wth oxygen regulatng devces. Thus Bachchan was fed ar and the resprator dd hs breathng for hm. A Swan Ganz catheter went,straght nto hs heart. Ths montored varous heart pressures. - The area between the dotted lnes represents the hollow abdomnal cavty. n the frst three days followng the njury n Bangalore, ths entre cavty flled up wth ble and fecal matter from perforatons n the ntestne. As a result, all the organs n the regon got nfected. The lver got jaundced and the ntestnes were covered wth septc spots. n Bombay, on August 2, Bachchan was operated on by reopenng the Rght Paramedan ncson made n Bangalore. Ths ncson leaves the whole cavty open to vew: when the doctors opened hm up, they found the whole regon flooded wth pus' and waste matter. The cavty was cleaned out wth salne, betadne, metrogyl and chloromycetn. After ths, four corrugated rubber drans C ~ were ftted. These have thn catheters nsde them, whch are used to pump n washes of normal salne, betadne, metrogyl and chloromycetn. These automatcally kept dranng the pus from hs abdomen. - Bachchan was subjected to a rgorous regmen to keep hs body functons stable. After the physotherapc massage he was forced to cough out fluds through the tracheal tube. mmedately after the massage, hs nsdes were washed out wth antbotcs or salnes, and the draned pus was sent for cultures. Hs bodly functons were montored. Ths cycle contnued day and nght. On the evenng of August 9, hs stomach started bleedng slghtly nternally partly as a result of the sterods he had been fed n massve doses to keep hs body's flud parameters normal. A Ryle's tube was nserted and hs stomach washed out mmedately and the bleedng thus mnmsed. At 11 p.m. that nght a pus culture was flown to London where Guy's Hosptal examned t to fnd out f any antbotcs unavalable n nda could be more effectve n combatng the lls of the superstar. NDA TODAY, AUGUST 31, 1982

3 ECAL REPORT whom Bachchan represents a bottomless gold-mne. Hs lean, broodng looks and hs authortatve actng have made Bachchan not just a cult fgure but the hghest pad star (currently estmated at Rs 35 lakh per flm) n ndan flm hstory and keepng vgl wth hs fans were fevershly anxous producers who have crores rdng on the star. Now, suddenly, Bachchan's larger-than-lfe screen mage had been rudely strpped away and he lay strcken n a hosptal bed, a mere mortal, vulnerable and dangerously ll. Contrary to popular mpresson, the fnancal stake whch rdes on Bachchan's health s lower than ever before. Rdng at the pnnacle of a career whch has defned the state-of-the-art for the entre flm ndustry, Bachchan decded last January to reduce the kllng pressure of work he had undertaken by ndscrmnately sgnng on for projects. Bent on cuttng down on the schedule whch forced hm to work up to three shfts a day after a serous bout of asthma n Delh, the superstar spent the last few months completng exstng projects and undertakng no new ones. As a result, when he had hs accdent n end-july, Bachchan had only two ncomplete flms on the sets, Coole and Ramesh Bahl's Pukaar. Sppy's Shakt was already complete, Nastk was completed except for the dubbng, and one Madras flm Andha Kanoon whch featured Bachchan n a guest appearance. had a few sequences left to be shot. Large Stakes: But for a flm ndustry whch has come to depend on Bachchan as ts only nstantly saleable name, the stake n the actor was much greater than just an mmedate matter of blocked fnances. Leadng producer Prakash Mehra had planned two flms around hm Sharabee, and Kayaar, Ramesh Sppy was already plannng hs next venture Shatranj wth Bachchan n the lead. Drector Raj Sppy has cast hm for Taala Chaab and Amyad Khan's Lambee Chaudee and a host of other producers were reportedly watng n the sdelnes for hm to start sgnng flms once agan. Wth doctors predctng a mnmum sx-month convalescence and possbly a whole year off work for the star, t was clear that most producers would have to hold ther horses. "But ths delay means nothng at all," sad Yash Johar emphatcally, "any body can afford to wat eght to ten months wth a man lke Amtabh n your pcture. Today he has eased the number of pctures n hand, but n the past he has been ll for three and four months at a tme when he used to sgn ten tmes the number of flms, and nothng happened to anybody." Denyng that the flm ndustry was only worred about ts nvestment n the man, Rat Agnhotr, who stars opposte Bachchan n Coole, asserted: "From my conversatons wth producers am certan that they are not bothered about ther flms so much as they are about the man hmself. Not a sngle producer has spoken to me about hs move. thnk they have all developed a genune lkng for Amtabh." Fght Sequence: The key to Bachchan's survval s the medcal drama that accompaned the star's most exactng real-lfe role. The hgh ponts of hs battle were: July 24: Bachchan was n Bangalore shootng Manmohan Desa's flm Coole and the tragedy struck durng a fght sequence beng flmed at the cty's Jnana Bharat Unversty campus. The unversty lbrary had been rearranged to resemble the nsde of a bank and the scrpt called for the vllan, played by Puneet ssar, an experenced stunt man, to kck Bachchan n the stomach. Bachchan was requred to spn around from the blow and fall heavly on a steel table. n typcal fashon, Bachchan refused to let a double take over and dd the scene hmself. Whle landng on the table. however, hs lower abdomen came n panful contact wth the edge of the table. At frst, nobody took note of the event. Desa applauded the star's realstc actng but stopped half-way when he and the rest of the crew realsed that somethng was serously wrong. Bachchan, accordng toeye-wtness reports, stood up, took two steps rubbng hs stomach and then crumpled to the floor, hs face con- : torted n agony. n the belef that t was a a temporary and mnor njury, Bachchan was rushed back to the West End Hotel sute he had occuped for the past two weeks. When the pan faled to subsde, a doctor who was a famly acquantance was called n to examne the star. The doctor felt nothng serous was wrong and prescrbed sedatves to let the star sleep t off. t was now around 8 p.m., almost fve hours snce the ncdent had taken place and hs condton seemed to have worsened. Bachchan's actress-wfe Jaya Bachchan, who had flown Banner up at a Bombay buldng announcng a meetng for Amtabh Jaya Bachchan outsde the entrance of the hosptal NDA TODAY, AUGUST 31, 1982

4 nto Bangalore wth ther two chldren to spend the d holdays wth her husband, was becomng ncreasngly anxous. She later told doctors that he spent the frst nght n extreme agony. July 25: The next mornng, Sunday, Bachchan's personal physcan, Dr K. M. Shah, flew down from Bombay n reply to an urgent SOS. He expressed hs unhappness wth Bachchan's condton but beng a general practtoner he lacked the authorty to take the matter furt'her. Hs concern, however, was enough to produce some results. The star, stll obvously n excrucatng agony, was rushed to St Phlomena's hosptal for an X-ray and admttance. But even after the X-rays, an ar of optmsm prevaled. A senor surgeon examned the star and stated that: "There s no cause for alarm". The X-rays faled to show any serous njury but ths could be because the patent was not X-rayed properly. n an erect posture the physcal examnaton revealed a ) tender spot n the area where the star had come n contact wth the table but lttle else. Medcal experts at the hosptal, however, are convnced that Bachchan should have been gven a more thorough examnaton, and subsequent facts seem to support ther vew. July 26: On Monday. wth Bachchan showng no sgns of mprovement, though he was fully conscous, another X-ray was performed whch agan ether faled to reveal any serous complcatons or was not examned carefully enough. n fact, the X- ray shows gas trapped under the daphragm whch could only have come from a ruptured ntestne. A Bombay doctor later sad: "n our professon we treat a patent from the day he comes to us and don't look back for causes or try to blame earler treatment. But there s no denyng that the X-ray taken the day after the accdent shows sgns of gas collected under the daphragm, a sure sgn of perforaton or leakage." Some doctors however feel that any patent n agony from such an njury for more than sx hours normally needs surgery or a test of abdomnal contents to detect nfecton. By now, Bachchan had developed what s referred to medcally as "board-lke rgdty" of the stomach and the njury area had dstended. But stll the medcal bulletn ssued by the hosptal stated that the star was "mprovng". n fact, three days of untreated ntestnal leakage had resulted n severe nternal nfecton and pertonts, the nflammaton of the abdomnal lnng. The rupture of. the large ntenstne, had splt faecal contents, dangerously toxc, nto the abdomen resultng n septcaema. At the tme, none of ths was known and Dr Shah was n a quandary. He felt nstnctvely that somethng was serously wrong but dd not know whether flyng the star to Bombay would aggravate the njury. Nevertheless, he consulted Jaya and seats were booked on the Monday evenng flght. By the evenng, however, the patent's condton had deterorated markedly and the seats were cancelled. Though t had been two days snce the ncdent, the outsde world, ncludng the meda, rema- ned n the dark. On nstructons from the star's famly, the hosptal had kept a tghtlpped slence on Bachchan's condton except for terse words of encouragement that turned out to be hopelessly false. July 27: Thngs started movng on Tuesday when anxous messages from Rajv Gandh n the US arrved and Chef Mnster Gundu Rao and senor state offcals got nto the act. Dr Shah took advantage of the sudden ar of urgency and called n Dr H.S. Bhatt, one of the leadng urologsts n the country who had attended the late Jayaprakash Narayan. Bhatt's dagnoss was brsk and decsve. Bachchan, he sad, requred an mmedate operaton. Even then, there was some agonsng delay over the possblty of flyng n surgeons from Bombay. But by now Bachchan's condton was too serous for the 12-hour delay that ths would have entaled. He was runnng a hgh fever, vomttng repeatedly and by 2.30 that after- ' noon hs heartbeat had run to 180 as aganst the normal 72. He had also slpped nto a coma and appeared to be snkng. Frantcally, the operaton theatre was r readed and the star was wheeled n. Dr- 1 ectng the operaton were Bhatt and Dr. Joseph Anthony, a general surgeon aded by Dr Ja Sngh. Watng anxously n the ante-room of the operaton theatre were Jaya, Amtabh's mother Tej, hs brother Ajtabh and flm producer Yash Johar. Eyewtness reports obtaned by NDA TODAY ndcate that the operatng theatre resembled a ralway staton. Several junor doctors and nurses hovered around the table as Mrs Gandh and Sona arrve at Breach Candy tovst thealngactor Rajv Gandh n the hosptal foyer - NDA TODAY, AUGUST 31,

5 3CAL REPORT vcarous spectarors-a crtcal lapse of ds- called hm 'Amtj'. Only the famly could experts almost unanmously feel that f Bacplne consderng the serousness of the manage hm, nobody else." chchan had been operated on the frst two star's condton and the negatve effect t July 29: By Thursday nght, wth Bac- days after he was admtted, he would have could have on the actual operaton. Heavy nfecton: One eyewtness states hchan's condton gettng worse-doctors were now concerned about hs kdneys-a been back on the ses of Coole n a sx week's tme. However, value judgments are easy to that when the ncson nto Bachchan's abd- decson was taken to fly the star to Bombay make n hndsght and the team of doctors at omen was made, "pus burst out lke a though the proposed shft was kept a strct St Phlomena's nsst that every possble fountan". The team of surgeons dscovered secret. thng was done to conform to medcal stana hole n the small ntestne where t joned July 30: By Frday mornng, Bach- dards. up wth the large ntestne. The pus was chan's condton had mproved althbugh he August 2: Nonetheless, Bachchan had cleaned up and the hole sttched and a tube was nserted n the abdomen to allow the excess pus to seep out. Some doctors, however, feel that one dran was not enough and at least three should have been nserted to reduce the chances of nfecton. The operaton took a total of three hours and before t ended at 7 p.m.. three specalsts from Bombay had flown n to observe the fnal stages. They were Dr M.K. Gandh, chef of cardology. Sur Hosptal. Dr Sharad Shah, a gastro- enterologst, and Dr Shrsh Bhansal. an abdomnal surgeon. By now. the word had spread and pools of anxous fans had gathered outsde the hosptal n spte of the poundng ran. The crucal vgl had begun. The frst 24 hours at the most vtal hours after any major operaton and t was now a queston of watng and hope and prayer. Manmohan Desa had been vstng the Raja Rajeshwar temple n Bangalore every day, prayng for the star's had developed slght jaundce. t was decded to fly hm out on the evenng Arbus flght rather than a chartered flght n whch the rde would have been bumpy. Pressed to explan the reason for the decson one surgeon who attended on hm sad that Bachchan's platelet count was low. Platelets are responsble for the coagulaton of blood to undergo a second major operaton soon after he arrved at Breach Candy for a "burst abdomen" when sttches admnstered n Bangalore gave way. Bachchan's second operaton n Bombay turned nto an eght-hour battle for lfe and at the end of t. he was stll very much on the crtcal lst. By last week, Bachchan's glassed-off booth n the ntensve care unt on the second floor of Breach Candy Hosptal was a maze of machnery and ntrcate lfe-support systems. Tubes leadng to hs abdomen fed antbotcs drectly onto the ste of the nfecton whle others were requred to flush t out twce daly. A tracheal tube had been nserted n hs throat to facltate breathng snce the star's asthmatc tendency puts an addtonal stran on hs lungs. A resprator strapped to hs chest ensured a regular ar supply and a strng of montors wred to other parts of hs body kept constant check on unforelfe and gvng - daly - offerngs at seen complcatons developng. the temle. Amtabh relaxng on the sets of Coole: fghtng sprt But though the mood was -. July 28: By mdnght sombre. t was hardly one of. Bachchan was gven a 50 per cent chance of' and not enough platelets were avalable n defeat. Doctors felt that he had crossed the survval by the doctors but next mornng Bangalore. nether was the faclty for sepa- hump and the worst was over. ushered n further complcatons. Hs lungs raton of these plate-lke cells whch requres mprovement: Three days after the had deterorated and pneumona was.sus- a centrfuge. Bombay was the logcal choce operaton, Bachchan was able to st up for pected. Further, the star was becomng n- but the Bombay arbus flght was three the frst tme for physotherapc massages / creasngly delrous. The doctors went nto a hours late and by the tme three rows of lstenng to lght jazz on a Walkman and huddle regardng the advsablty of exam- seats had been removed to accommodate wrtng notes to famly members. By the tme nng hs chest through a bronchoscope, a the mn ntens~ve care unt, t was well Mrs Gandh flew nto Bombay to vst the major decson at that stage of Bachchan's. past mdnght. star on August 8, he was beng fed small struggle for survval. The decson was put July 31: n typcal flm fashon, Ba- doses of lquds-a sgn that hs ntestnes oftll later but blood samples were taken for: chchan's removal from the hosptal was had resumed workng. Doctors, however, blood-gas tests (to determne the blood ac-' conducted lke a top secret operaton. Whle nsst that t wll be at least another fortnght cdty, oxygen and carbon d-oxde tenson n the phalanx of reporters and photographers before he can be declared out of danger. the blood). The tests 'revealed that wated n ambush at the front door, Ba- "t s only hs wll-power that has pulled Bachchan's lfe stll hung by a very slender chchan's stretcher-borne fgure was sprted hm through," sad Yash Johar, who had thread. He was mmedately put onto nebu- out through the rear door and nto a watng rushed to Bangalore wth spare doses of lsed oxygen (wth a water vapour content) to ambulance. A polce escort accompaned the platelet-rch plasma and had stayed wth the keep the lung secretons from hardenng, cavalcade to the arport and, at famly through ther most anxous moments. Bachchan, n a state of delrum, had bouts Bachchan took off for Bombay and the next "f t had been anybody else, he would have ' ' of volence. tryng to snatch at tubes con- act nbthe lfe and death drama. succumbed," added Ramesh Sppy. "You nected to hm and medcal paraphernala Yet, even as the drama shfted to Bom- don't know what a fghter Amtabh s. He lyng around hm. "He was controlled only bay, t left behnd some vtal and naggng just never gves up." by hs brother and Jaya," sad a source. "Hs questons, foremost among them beng the -DLP BOBB wth CHANDER UDAY SNGH n mother Tej would call hm 'Raja' whle Jaya ntal medcal care gven to the star. Medcal Bombay and GTA ABRAHAM n Bangalore