Rumour Mills Work Overtime- The Times of India

Rumour Mills Work Overtime
Saturday, December 03, 2005 02:12:24 am, TIMES NEWS NETWORK

MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan's fifth day in hospital had all the highs and lows of a Bollywood blockbuster — rumours of ill-health and news of recovery kept fans and media guessing.

The hospital management released a short statement about Bachchan recovering in the ICU, but Mumbai's rumours mills seemed to be working overtime throughout the day with the news of "profuse internal bleeding" and the "family's decision to shift him to Breach Candy Hospital".

The hospital management said that a decision to move Bachchan to a private room will be taken on Saturday morning.
Bachchan was operated on Wednesday evening for perforation in his intestine.

Monday will be a critical day as he will be started on liquid diet, said doctors. "He is much better," said a Bollywood visitor on his way out.

Family friends and sources claimed that Bachchan was seen sitting on a chair, looking out of the window. "His vital parameters are fine, his pulse rate is normal, he is stable. Things are going well," said a hospital source.

But SMSes on mobile phone read that Bachchan was leaving the hospital for another due to internal bleeding. "A team from the other hospital is already there," insisted another.

In fact, the hospital management took cognisance of this and its statement noted that "Rumours of him being treated by outside doctors are false".

According to sources, Farokh Udwadia who had taken care of Bachchan during his earlier surgery at Breach Candy Hospital had dropped by to meet him and his family.

"This could have led to the rumours even though Udwadia was here purely for social reasons rather than medical," said a hospital source.

Amar Singh, Samajwadi Party leader who is close to the Bachchan family, also denied the rumours about the Big B being shifted out of Lilavati.

Addressing reporters in the morning, he said, "We are very happy with Lilavati and have no intentions of shifting Mr Bachchan to Breach Candy."

The stream of visitors and fans continued for the fifth day. Actor-MP Dharmendra told reporters in an emotional tone, "My elder brother has always emerged victorious from all his crisis.

This time, too, he will." Abhishek Bachchan's close friends Sonali Bendre and Goldie Behl visited the hospital. Lending credence to Bachchan's recovery, wife Jaya left the hospital for the first time since his admission to hospital.

Manoj Kumar, Aruna Irani, Keshu Ramsay, Gauri Khan, Suniel Shetty, Bipasha Basu, Danny Denzongpa, Romesh Sharma, Rajkumar Santoshi were some of the other visitors.

Read the full article at : Rumour Mills Work Overtime- The Times of India