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For the second time in just under 25 years, Amitabh Bachchan's health is a subject of national concern. Although decidedly less serious and not life-threatening unlike his 1982 injury caused while shooting an action sequence for Coolie, Amitabh's hospitalization this time too has kept the country on tenterhooks. This being an age of intrusive 24-hour news channels his medical condition, real and speculative, is being broadcast worldwide minute-to-minute.

The outpouring of concern, however, is genuine. We have got so used to Amitabh's presence in our lives that even a minor ailment threatens to disturb our comfort level. To begin with, there are worries about the TV blockbuster Kaun Banega Crorepati 'Dwitiya'.

It has now been clarified the program will not be impacted till December 23, but what if he is not fit enough to record by then? At least a dozen films will be held up if the megastar is advised prolonged rest. Since he is present in almost every second TV commercial, Amitabh's hospitalization could also disrupt shooting schedules for forthcoming ads.

But these are not the only reasons for widespread public anxiety. Amitabh Bachchan's is a larger-than-life persona; we can't imagine contemporary India without his towering, overwhelming presence. I have no doubt that he will emerge at the top of any poll to identify India's most popular personality. He has held Indians in thrall across three generations, at least since 1973 when Zanjeer smashed box-office records heralding the birth of a star and Deewar redefined the idiom of Hindi cinema.

Personally, there is deep irony in his sudden indisposition at this time. Just last week, on November 24 to be precise, I was in Mumbai to interview the producer of KBC II, Siddhartha Basu and his charming wife Anita for our sister publication, Darpan. We shot pictures on the empty sets of KBC in Mumbai's Film City.

My crowning glory came when it was suggested I could sit on Amitabh's chair with Siddhartha and Anita perched across, posing as quizmaster and contestants respectively. Amitabh's persona is so awe-inspiring that merely sitting on a chair usually occupied by him gave me goose pimples; and this despite the fact that, starting 1984, I have interacted with him umpteen times. I felt overwhelmed being on the sets, sitting on his chair, touching his Computerji and pretending to be Amitabh Bachchan! Childlike, no doubt, but then, that's what he does to you.

He will soon be back on KBC's seat and many other sets for he is not just a workaholic but also a man who never breaks a commitment. His current ailment, I am sure, will be no more than a minor digression in a career that has scaled success after success barring occasional troughs of depression. The whole nation is with him.

Things have hardly changed since 1982 when I remember getting frightfully excited over a page one capsule in The Times of London captioned "Indians pray for ailing actor." Bollywood wasn't so big then; India's multi-billion entertainment industry could hardly be called global. But The Times pointed out that all across Britain persons of Indian origin were seen visiting shrines to offer prayers for the speedy recovery of "A Hindi film actor who commands an incredible fan following."

The short report gave a summary of his medical condition, pointing out he had injured his stomach enacting a sequence for an under-production film while jostling with "villain" Puneet Issar - probably the only occasion when the "baddie" got mentioned by an top-ranking international publication. I remember feeling rather proud that Amitabh Bachchan had taken India to page one of the venerable Times, although it wasn't a cheerful situation. Probably because of the response this item generated, the paper thereafter followed his recovery on a daily basis.

In the pre-satellite TV, pre-internet era, that is how I got to know Amitabh had overcome his ailment and was back at work. In retrospect, it was perhaps the first acknowledgement of the growing importance of India's entertainment industry in the West and also a measure of the burgeoning clout of the Indian diaspora.

Apart from his own will power, Amitabh was helped in his recovery by the collective will of millions of admirers. I think his stature became iconic in the aftermath of that incident for it revealed the extent of the reverence he commanded.

Till then he was a superstar. Thereafter he became an icon. Not everybody, however, was too pleased when he was persuaded by his friend Rajiv Gandhi to plunge into politics and contest the 1984 election from his ancestral hometown, Allahabad. As he later admitted, it was a mistake for he wasn't cut out for a political role.

Not every film actor can be a Sunil Dutt or Vinod Khanna. But Amitabh's decision to contest gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to cover his campaign. I had entered the profession earlier that year, which made it all the more exciting. Seeing the adulation of the crowd, there was no doubt he would romp home against veteran Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. He did so by a margin of nearly three lakh votes.

Amitabh joined politics too soon; people had not become as cynical about politicians as they are now. Just because he described politics as a cesspool, he was hounded out of it; nowadays, people get away with much worse. His career too suffered a dent.

He compounded his professional mistakes by setting up a business venture, ABCL, whose accumulated debts brought him to a point where even his Juhu bungalow was slated to fall to an auctioneer's hammer. Whatever people may say about his overt indebtedness to Amar Singh, he may not have survived that financial crisis without the UP politician's help.

When he recovers from his present bout of indisposition he will certainly be told by doctors to slow down. And he must. Being a rarest of rare professional, he exerts himself much more than his age and health permit. Siddhartha Basu told me Amitabh spends a couple of hours before every KBC II shoot familiarizing himself with the questions and background of the options listed so that he can improvise his observations in response to the answers.

Basu recalled having produced hundreds of TV programs without coming a more meticulous anchor. "Just imagine, at this age, having faced the camera for 33 years, he still treats a shoot as a rookie getting his first break would. He is the best professional I know," Siddhartha, himself a veteran quizmaster, remarked.

The one thing Amitabh hates is disorder. Apparently when he went to London to watch the recording of "Who wants to be a millionaire?" he told his sponsors he would anchor the show if the same discipline was reproduced on Indian sets, expressing skepticism about the prospect. I can vouch for this. During a break while interviewing him for Darpan in 2003 on the sets of Armaan in Mussoorie, Amitabh went to shoot a sequence.

There was no dialogue he had to deliver. Yet, he lost his temper when somebody in the crowd said something. "Who said that," he angrily turned to ask at the top of his baritone.

The petrified crowd almost melted away. To watch curious, tamashbeen onlookers jostling him as he exited a hospital the other day, therefore, was a sorry spectacle. The disciplinarian in him must have felt his dignity disrobed. I hope people leave him alone as he recuperates. We will deeply miss him till he does. And pray for him till then.


(Chandan Mitra is the Chief Editor af The Pioneer, India. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha to take the place of veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar)

( The views expressed herein are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect those of despardes.com )