Was on 8-10 painkillers daily just to survive: TB survivor Amitabh Bachchan
Bachchan, who is the brand ambassador for 'Call to Action for a TB-free India', said everybody is \"vulnerable\" to the disease.
Sixteen years ago he helped birth reality television show business and also revived his sagging career. His “computerji” in Kaun Banega Crorepati touched chords with aspirational India but Amitabh Bachchan was at that time battling with a life-threatening ailment. On the first day of the shoot of KBC, Bachchan was told that he was suffering from tuberculosis (TB) of the spine and he had shooting pains for which he took heavy doses of painkillers. The superstar revealed this at an event with US ambassador Richard R. Verma.
Bachchan was not new to such revelations though. In the 1970s, in a freak accident during the shooting of blockbuster movie Coolie, Puneet Issar had delivered a near-fatal blow to him. Three decades later, the icon of Hindi cinema came face to face against the disease which is one of the biggest killers in India. The question “why me” did spring up but Bachchan took it in his stride.
“I contracted TB in 2000 on the day I was going to start shooting for KBC. It was the TB of spine... it was very uncomfortable. You could not lie down or sit and most of the time I was on 8-10 painkillers daily just to survive the period when I was anchoring the game show. Gradually, with the treatment for a year, I was fine. There are precautions but things are fine. I play with my grandchildren and today I am sitting here answering your questions,” he said.
When asked why he talks about his ailments, he said, “Sometimes a known face is more believable. I want the people to know that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.”
In order to help India fight tuberculosis, the US government has invested $100 million and has helped treat over 15 million people in the last 18 years.