Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar postponed a music event while megastar Amitabh Bachchan sent out an emotional message calling Bal Thackeray a fighter as the health condition of the Shiv Sena supremo today evoked an outpouring of concern from Bollywood.
The otherwise busy film studios in the city also wore a deserted look with no shooting of films or television serials taking place amid concerns over the Shiv Sena patriach's health condition.
"People have voluntarily decided not to shoot today, " T P Agarwal, President, Indian Motion Pictures Association and Film Federation of India told.
Officials at major studios in the city like Filmcity, Filmistan, Mehboob studio, Kamal Amrohi Studios said that no shooting was going on today.
"Shooting was scheduled to go for few of our shows today but we don't know what the situation is. There are few artists who have voluntarily decided against shooting, " a source from an entertainment channel said.
A steady stream of film celebrities including Amitabh, his son Abhishek, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Manoj Kumar and Nana Patekar, and filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Ashok Pandit headed to 86-year-old Thackeray's residence "Matoshree" in suburban Bandra to inquire about his condition while some took to micro-blogging site Twitter to express their anxiety.
"May the tiger wake up and roar again, " said filmmaker Pritish Nandy.
Mangeshkar said she was extremely disturbed and concerned about the "critical" health of Thackeray, who, she said is like a family member to her. "In view of this, I am postponing the function of my music company to a later date, " Mangeshkar wrote on Twitter. The event was scheduled for November 18.
Amitabh and Abhishek were injured when they waded their way through crowd gathered outside Thackeray residence last night. "Yes, both Abhishek and me were injured with cuts, but are fine and back home... the doctors at 'Matoshree' attended on us!, " Bachchan tweeted today.
Recalling his long and close relationship with the Sena patriarch, Big B tweeted, "Balasaheb Thackeray: a fighter all his life, fights his life !! Prayers needed now !approach me but nothing exciting has come my way".
Bachchan recalled his association with Thackeray since he suffered the near-fatal accident on the sets of 'Coolie' in 1982. "When I fought for my life after 'Coolie' accident, he (Thackeray) came to visit me in hospital, with a cartoon he had drawn--Yamraj defeated! Yamraj - 'God of Death', defeated by me....Wish I was as proficient a cartoonist as he, for tonight I would wish to draw that for him!, " Bachchan said.
