EXCL! Shashi Kapoor saved fans from panic during Amitabh's Coolie accident; here’s how

New Delhi: On July 26, 1982, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan was gravely injured on the sets of Coolie, in what was later remembered as one of the most harrowing incidents in Indian film history. Since then, August 2 has been marked by the actor as his “second birthday”. The day AB senior was granted a second shot at life.

While much has been written about the accident and its aftermath, a lesser-known yet compelling detail has resurfaced. The important role played by Shashi Kapoor during that turbulent period.

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Veteran film journalist Bharathi Pradhan, in an exclusive interview with TV9 English, revealed that the Deewar actor had acted as the unofficial health bulletin for the media and film fraternity during Amitabh’s hospitalisation.

“Large crowds used to be gathered outside Breach Candy, and we would get all kinds of information about his health, like he is in bad condition and could go any moment,” she recalled. “But the one who kept us informed every day, almost like a medical bulletin, was Shashi Kapoor.”

For the unversed, Shashi resided nearby and made it a point to visit Breach Candy Hospital daily, often pushing back against speculative and alarming reports. “Shashi Kapoor was very angry with all the reports about Bachchan sinking, and he would keep correcting and saying that it is not true,” Bharathi recounted. “He would say, ‘I have met him,’ and angrily say, ‘Sab log waha maatam ke liye khade hai.’ I remember the visuals of people standing with folded hands, but he kept saying Amitabh is going to come out of it.”

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Following his recovery, Amitabh’s first public act was a visit to Siddhivinayak Temple with his wife, Jaya Bachchan. An interesting aside shared by Bharathi pointed to astrological beliefs surrounding the incident. “Some astrologer said Jaya Bachchan’s kundali was so strong, she didn’t have early widowhood in her horoscope. They said it was the wife’s horoscope that kept him alive.”

Bharathi added, “It was not difficult at all. At the time of Coolie, he was very much at the peak and he had not left and gone into politics. It was politics that killed him. Not Coolie. It was his political stint that killed him for a while.”