Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan’s onscreen rivalry in Sholay is one of the most iconic rivalries of Indian cinema. However, not many know that the two shared a great bond in real life. Their friendship was to an extent wherein once, Amit Ji signed hospital documents ahead of Amjad’s surgery after he met with a tragic accident. In a candid conversation with Pinkvilla, Amjad’s wife Shehla Khan recalled how the couple met with an accident when she was six months pregnant with Ahlam, and it was Amit Ji who came to the late actor’s rescue.
Shehla shared that they were on the way to the outdoor location of the 1979 film The Great Gambler, and they met with the dreadful accident at Sawantwadi (near Goa). Shehla said that her face was smashed, her bones were broken, her right hand was in a sling, and her left hand was out of the socket. Amjad’s condition was far worse, thirteen of his ribs were broken; the steering wheel had penetrated his chest and had ruptured the lung. The late actor at that time was gasping for breath, and on top of that, his femur bone was also broken. Even in that state, Shehla recalled Amjad was more worried about her and about losing their child.
The couple was admitted to the hospital in Sawantwadi but was later sent to Panjim in Goa as a large mob had gathered outside the hospital. Shehla said that Amjad had to be operated in Goa and that’s when “Amitji gave his signature for the doctors to proceed with the tracheostomy”, which is a surgical procedure to ease breathing.
Shehla reckons that “Amitji must have been nervous” because no one knew whether the man was going to make it or not. Big B was surprised when Amjad wrote down the term ‘tracheostomy’ on a piece of paper, indicating to Amitji if he would be undergoing it. Shehla was surprised that even in the condition he was in, he spelt the complicated word correctly. Though Amjad recovered from the fatal accident, his health went downhill.
The veteran actor breathed his last on July 27, 1992.
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