It was a big setback to all cinema lovers when the megastar Amitabh almost fought death after the ‘Coolie’ injury in 1982 only to bounce back later with renewed vigour as the real ‘Shahenshah’ of Bollywood. However, the wound continues to haunt the megastar even today.

Cut to present, he underwent an abdominal surgery last Saturday at the Seven Hills hospital in suburban Andheri, the same hospital where daughter-in-law Aishwarya delivered a baby girl. The surgery went off smoothly and the Bollywood legend is recovering successfully. However he is struggling with some pain post-surgery and the actor is known to live with it for past so many years.

Let’s get you a rewind of the story behind the bouts of abdominal pain. Stomach ailments have been hurting Big B ever since he had a near-fatal injury in the July of 1982 while filming a fight scene for Manmohan Desai's ‘Coolie’. Shooting for the scene with Puneet Issar where he has to jump on to a table turned into a black day for Bachchan and the whole cinema world. The corner of the table struck his abdomen so hard that he lost significant blood. In fact the actor spent enormous time in hospital struggling for life and got his fans in a tizzy. The shocked fans thronged temples, mosques and churches. Fortunately the actor started recuperating and continued his acting career. But the age-old injury doesn’t cease to hound him again.

‘Coolie’ was finally released in 1983, and due to the hoopla around the lead actor’s accident, the film was a

box office success. Bachchan’s accident completely altered the climax of ‘Coolie’. Bachchan's character was originally supposed to have been killed but director, Manmohan Desai, changed the script and wished Amitabh to stay alive till the end. It would have been inappropriate, said Desai, for the man who had just fended off death in real life to be killed on screen. Also, in the released film the footage of the fight scene is frozen at the critical moment, and a caption appears onscreen marking this as the instant of the actor's injury and the ensuing publicity of the accident.

In 2005, Big B also underwent a surgery for an intestinal condition in 2005 at the Lilavati Hospital. His hospital stay made him drop out of Farah Khan’s ‘Happy New Year’, which was finally shelved. Bachchan gradually returned to work and the pace gathered momentum only to bring him back on stretcher after a while.

The injury of the past resurfaced again in the midst of his birthday celebrations on October 11, 2008. He suffered breathlessness and stomach pain after which he was rushed to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai for a checkup. It became clear that the problem was severe and could be a consequence of the accident. Thereafter, he was taken to the Lilavati Hospital for the final treatment.

This was his fourth surgery since he met with the ‘Coolie’ accident. His lower abdomen became swollen due to hernia. Unable to bear the persistent pain after so many years, the actor finally decided to go under the knife.

'Coolie' injury comes haunting Big B again images

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