Bachchan out of action for a month

Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan will be out of action from the silverscreen and the small-screen for one month.

The ailing superstar, who underwent a successful surgery for intestinal inflammation (suspected diverticulitis) at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital, has been advised complete bed rest till the end of December.

Sources have revealed that Big B is in a semi-conscious state post-surgery, but is recovering well.

During the surgery, doctors removed a portion of his small intestine and have put him in ICU for at least 72 hours.

He has been put on a glucose drip and will not be allowed any any solid food for at least a week, sources say.

Doctors say the recovery period could be longer given his diabetic condition.

The nearly four-hour operation, which began at 1730 hrs (IST) and lasted till 2230 hrs (IST) on Wednesday, was conducted following infection, inflammation and perforation in Bachchan's intestine.

During the operation, a team of four surgeons removed tissues which were the remnants of the injury the actor had sustained during the shooting of Coolie in 1982.

However, rumours relating Bachchan's present ailment to the past injury have been declared baseless.

He was operated on by gastroenterologists Dr P Jagganath, Dr Sadanand Shetty, Dr Rajiv Shah and Dr J B Agarwal of Lilavati Hospital.

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Friends and family members stayed by his bedside, but remained tight-lipped about his condition.

A veritable who's who of the film industry descended on the Lilavati Hospital to wish Bachchan on Thursday.

Those who met Bachchan included actors Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Priyanka Chpora, Katrina Kaif, Prem Chopra, producer Yash Chopra and Sahara Chief Subrata Roy.

What happens to Big B's projects?

With the superstar out of action for a month, the shooting schedule for his popular gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 has been disrupted.

Bachchan will also have to skip the promotional activities for his forthcoming film Ek Ajnabee. He will also miss out on the music release of Family.

Bachchan had been diagnosed with colitis, a disease that causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the lining of the large intestine.

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The inflammation usually occurs in the rectum and lower part of the colon, but it may affect the entire colon also.

Bachchan was admitted to Lilavati Hospital on Monday night, complaining of abdominal pain.

The 63-year-old actor has undergone various tests since Monday when he was flown in from Escorts Hospital in New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, doctors at the Lilavati Hospital had announced that Bachchan was recovering and there was no cause of worry.

Past revisited?

In 1982, during the filming of Coolie, Bachchan had had a near-fatal accident on the sets of the film. He was hurt in the abdomen during a fight sequence with actor Puneet Issar.

Bachchan had been hospitalised for six months following the accident.

News of his injury then was so big that when Coolie was released, it featured a freeze-frame and caption showing the exact instance when Bachchan was injured.

The abdominal pain this time is also on the same side where he was injured while filming for Coolie. But doctors have said that the infection has got nothing to do with his past injury.