No wonder the whole of India was in a state of disquiet as news of Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan’s injury spread like wildfire.
However, we can now heave a sigh of relief – the muscular injury isn’t that serious and Shah Rukh has been advised a month’s rest by his medical team.
Well, this is not the first time that King Khan had a bad blow on the set – but every time he runs into a physical mess while shooting, it’s a ‘national headline’.
Check the social media – and it’s all about SRK’s injury. That’s the kind of frenzy that celebs of his stature generate.
Circa 1982, when Big B gasped for breath. Such is the delirium associated with our stars, who actually live in the prayers of their fanatic admirers. The SRK mishap, if at all we term it as one, takes us back to 1982 when the Shahenshah of the industry, Amitabh Bachchan, met with a near-fatal accident while shooting a high-octane action sequence for Manmohan Desai’s Coolie in Bangalore, now Bengaluru.
And guess what – the on-screen villain Puneet Issar whose unintentional blow hit Big B, turned an overnight monster in the eyes of Bachchan’s fans. In fact, Issar himself admitted the amount of scorn and curse he received post that accident.
The unfortunate incident led to Bachchan slipping into a coma for days and was even declared clinically dead for a brief period. As the megastar fought for his life in the hospital, the entire nation went into mourning.
Fans thronged temples in numbers and many even went to the extent of vouching to save their idol at their own expense by donating blood. Finally, the prayers were heard as the legendary actor at the zenith of his stardom, pulled off an ‘impossible surprise’ by regaining his consciousness.
It was no short of a miracle, something Bachchan himself acknowledged while expressing his gratitude to his fans. And Bachchan isn’t the only one
Of course, Bachchan’s accident was dead serious as he snatched life from the jaws of death, but in a country where icons are worshipped as demi-Gods, even a minor bruise leads fanatics to go berserk.
Over the years, several stars have met with near calamities while shooting – be it Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh or Akshay Kumar or Alia Bhatt – the list is endless.
There are tales of valour as many of them didn’t bring the shooting to a halt and displayed utmost professionalism, continuing with the job. But more than the stars themselves, it is their fans who are left paranoid.
But fake news…
To make matters worse, in this age of social media, fake news is rampant. Let us not forget how some notorious elements don’t even think twice before sharing false and fabricated stories of celebs’ demise just to garner views. Way back in the ‘80s, there was no social media and hence we were spared the ignominy of trusting fabricated news.
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But down the line in 2025, it’s the netizens who wreak havoc bestowed with the luxury of Meta, X and other popular social media handles. Making a mountain out of a mole is their forte and they thrive on it.
Such a hoax is uncalled for, and we hope sanity and sagacity prevail.
