Fact Check: No, Amitabh Bachchan was not hospitalised

A recent report on a website claimed that “Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s health deteriorated, and he was in a critical condition”. The report also carried a set of two photos of Bachchan purportedly lying on a hospital bed, with his wife, Jaya Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan standing beside him. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that Amitabh Bachchan is healthy and fit and was not hospitalised recently. The photo shared in the report was old and shared with a false claim.

Claim

A website named Dainik Kiran published a report on April 24 claiming that “Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s health deteriorated and he was on his deathbed”. The report also carried a set of two photos showing Bachchan lying on a hospital bed and his wife, Jaya Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan standing beside him. 

“Amitabh Bachchan's condition worsened, now he is taking his last breath in the hospital, tears are not stopping from Jaya Bachchan's eyes,” read the English translation of the headline.

Investigation

The Desk started the investigation with a Google Reverse Image Search on both photos in the article. The search results for the first photo led to a BBC article published on Dec 17, 2005. 

“Bachchan leaves hospital after the op,” read the report headline that carried the same photo as shared in the article. 

Here is the link to the BBC report, and below is a screenshot of the same: 

According to the BBC report, Bachchan was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital and underwent surgery for a colonic condition on Nov 30, 2005.

The Desk conducted Google Reverse Image Search on the second photo bur could not find its source. However, we came across a photo of Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya in a similar attire attending Sri Devi’s condolence meeting on Feb 28, 2018. Still, the Desk couldn’t establish that the image shared in the report was from Sri Devi’s condolence meeting. 

Below is the combination of the images – the one shared in the report and the other from Sri Devi’s funeral in 2018.

The Desk then scanned the social media handles of Bachchan and found that the actor had posted on Twitter the same day that the news article had been published (April 24).

Here is the link and archive link to the Twitter post by Bachchan on April 24. Below is a screenshot of the same:

We then conducted a Google Search with the keyword “Amitabh Bachchan news”, which led us to an article published by Hindustan Times on April 24.

“Amitabh Bachchan has a hilarious response as he gets blue tick back on Twitter: 'Paise bharwa liye aur kehte ho free...',” read the article’s headline.

Here is the link to the article, and below is a screenshot of the same:

“As Twitter restored the blue tick verification for accounts with over one million followers, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan had a hilarious response. He wondered why he paid for the subscription, despite having 48.4 million followers,” read the article, which does not mention Bachchan facing any health concerns.

In the next part of the investigation, the Desk conducted a Google Search with the keyword “Amitabh Bachchan hospitalised” but couldn’t find any recent report.

The most recent article regarding Amitabh Bachchan being hospitalised was published at least six months ago. 

One such report was published by Times Now on October 23, 2022, with the headline “Amitabh Bachchan reveals had cut a vein on his left calf, and was rushed to the hospital recently”.

Here is the link to the article, and below is a screenshot of the same:

“Amitabh Bachchan shared on his official blog that he was recently rushed to hospital after he cut a vein in his left calf. The megastar, who turned 80 a few days back, received stitches to control the bleeding due to a metal cut, Bachchan shared on his official blog,” read the article.

Taking a cue from this, we went through Amitabh Bachchan’s official blog on microblogging and social networking website Tumblr and found that the most recent post was dated April 23/24, 2023.

Here is the link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:

However, the post did not mention ill health or hospitalisation. 

We also contacted Amitabh Bachchan’s PR team for his comments on the article. The story will be updated as and when a response is received.

The Desk subsequently concluded that the claim made in the article relating to Bachchan’s health was false.

Claim

Actor Amitabh Bachchan’s health was deteriorating, and was hospitalised.

Fact

Bachchan was not hospitalised recently and was in good health. 

Conclusion

A website published an article claiming that Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s health was deteriorating, and he was on his deathbed. The Desk found in its investigation that the actor was not hospitalised recently. The claim made in the article was false.