When Amitabh Bachchan was declared 'clinically dead'
What's the story
Amitabh Bachchan is busy shooting for his upcoming film Project K.
The 80-year-old recently suffered an injury while shooting an action sequence. Bachchan took to his blog to reveal that he suffered a rib injury causing a tear to the right rib cage and damage to the cartilage.
His injury reminds us of the time when he almost died during the filming of Coolie.
The accident
The mistimed jump that brought Bachchan to the hospital
In 1982, Big B was filming for Manmohan Desai's iconic movie Coolie. He was to shoot an action sequence in Bengaluru alongside actor Puneet Issar.
The scene demanded Bachchan jump but the timing didn't sit right which resulted in Issar accidentally punching him in his gut.
He fell unconscious on the spot and was rushed to a hospital immediately.
Injury
The nearly-fatal injury
The nation came to a standstill when Bachchan was admitted due to the near-fatal accident. His lower abdomen was bleeding profusely; the doctors had also initially declared him "clinically dead."
However, he was revived after he was given an adrenaline injection. From fans' letters written in blood to politicians praying for his speedy recovery, India prayed for him to get better.
The climax
The film's climax was changed post the incident
After undergoing treatment for days at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital, Bachchan finally recovered from the injury that nearly took his life. He soon completed the film's shooting also. However, the makers of Coolie decided to change the movie's climax due to the accident.
Originally, Big B's character was to die at the end of the film but it was later changed by the writers.
Blog
Bachchan recalled the accident in a blog post
Years later, the megastar opened up about the accident in a blog post. Speaking about his "coma-like" situation, he recalled how he was declared clinically dead for a couple of minutes by the doctors at the hospital.
The doctor took a last chance and started to pump adrenaline injections into him. He was revived after "another almost, 40 ampules of it" were injected.