Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan turned 82 on October 11. He began his career with the film `Saat Hindustani` in 1969 and later appeared as Dr Bhaskar Banerjee in Hrishikesh Mukherjee`s `Anand` (1971), for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. Prakash Mehra`s action film `Zanjeer` (1973) established Bachchan as a star to look out for in the industry and since then, he has enthralled audiences with versatile roles. However, the actor was advised to give up on acting following a health scare during ‘Shahenshah’ (1988). 

Amitabh Bachchan ‘nearly died’ due to a nerve illness

‘Shahenshah’ director Tinnu Anand, spoke to Radio Nasha where he recalled learning about Amitabh Bachchan’s health scare following which the film was dropped and later revived. He said, "I kept waiting at the hotel, where he (Bachchan) arrived and said, ‘Please sit down, I have bad news for you. I have been diagnosed with a nerve illness. During the shoot when I was taking a sip of the water, it got stuck in my throat, because the message to my brain didn’t go that I had to swallow it.’ He then said, ‘I nearly died suffocating on it`.”