Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who had visited Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu in a Kolkata hospital a day before his death, Monday said "a huge pillar" in the political firmament has fallen.

"Jyoti Basu has just passed away!... Deeply grieved and send our prayers and condolences. A huge pillar in the Indian political firmament has fallen. The nation is in grief, " Amitabh posted on his blog early Monday morning.

Big B, as he is fondly called, spent half-an-hour at the hospital and also spoke to doctors about Basu's condition during his visit there Saturday, a day before Basu's death.

Basu, a former West Bengal chief minister, died at 95 in AMRI Hospital in Kolkata Sunday.