Bollywood legend hospitalised

2008-10-11 12:02

Mumbai - Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 66 on Saturday, was taken to hospital after reportedly suffering abdominal pain, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The actor, who has superstar status in India, was seen leaving his home in the northern Mumbai suburb of Juhu with his actor son, Abhishek, and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, in an ambulance.

Bachchan, wearing a brown-coloured woollen cap and blue ensemble, was spotted lying down inside the vehicle before being supported by Abhishek and another man as he walked into the Nanavati Hospital, the photographer said.

The ambulance arrived just before 05:30 GMT, he added.

The Times Now television channel said Bachchan had complained of stomach pain since Friday evening. The cause was not immediately known.

Bachchan underwent bowel surgery and was in hospital for nearly three weeks in November 2005. One of those weeks was spent in intensive care.

With a career spanning four decades in India's movie industry, doctors warned Bachchan to slow down when he returned to work.

He also suffered a severe stomach injury in 1982 while shooting his film Coolie.

Bachchan was last seen in his first English-language movie, The Last Lear.

- AFP