Amitabh Bachchan signed hospital papers for Amjad Khan's surgery after accident, says latter’s wife

NEW DELHI: Late actor Amjad Khan was quite a famous name during his era but did you know when the actor met with a serious accident it was megastar Amitabh Bachchan who came for this rescue?

Yes, you heard that right!

Amjad’s wife Shehla Khan recalled the whole incident which happened ahead of the shooting of his film The Great Gambler (1979).

The actor needed surgery which was known as tracheostomy (a surgical procedure to ease breathing) and Amitabh had then given his signature in hospital documents for the doctors to perform a tracheostomy on Amjad.

Sharing the horrifying incident, she said that the accident took place at Sawantwadi, near Goa, when she was 6 months pregnant and it was an extremely serious accident. While she was still dealing with the accident, Amjad was gasping for breath and also had internal bleeding as 13 of his ribs and also his femur bone were broken. Even though his condition was more serious, he was 'more worried' about her and losing their child.

While talking to Pinkvilla, Shehla said, "A mob had gathered outside the hospital in Sawantwadi. 'Gabbar Singh ko bahar lao (Bring Gabbar Singh outside)' they kept saying. The doctors sent us to Panjim or else the crowd would have pulled down the hospital. He had to be operated in Goa and that’s when Amitji (Bachchan) gave his signature for the doctors to proceed with the tracheostomy (a surgical procedure to ease breathing)."

She added, "Amjad and Amitji shared a close bond. Amitji must have been nervous because no one knew whether the man was going to make it or not. He was surprised when Amjad wrote down the term ‘tracheostomy’ on a piece of paper, gesturing to Amitji if he would be undergoing it. In fact, even in that condition, he spelled the complicated word correctly. Soon, we chartered a flight to Mumbai. We stayed in Nanavati Hospital for three months."

For the unversed, helmed by Shakti Samanta, The Great Gambler was a crime-action film. It also starred Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh, and Prem Chopra in pivotal roles. 
Initially, Amjad was part of the film but due to his severe accident, he couldn’t continue and so Utpal Dutt bagged his role.