MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who tunred 66 on October 11, was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital following abdominal pain and then shifted to the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra after a preliminary medical check up.

The Big B was celebrating his birthday at his residence Pratiksha when he suddenly experienced severe pain, a family source said.

He was rushed to Nanavati Hospital, barely a kilometre from his house in Juhu, around 12.30 pm. Less than an hour later, he was taken to Lilavati Hospital, located around five kilometres away at Bandra Reclamation. When contacted by IANS, hospital authorities refused to comment on the exact nature of illness for which Bachchan underwent a check-up.

Amitabh’s daughter Shweta, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya accompanied him to the hospital, while Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh who was here to take part in the birthday celebrations later visited him at the hospital.

Huge crowds that had gathered outside his house to wish him happy birthday anxiously watched him leave, television pictures showed.

Bachchan, wearing a brown-coloured woollen cap and blue ensemble, was spotted lying down inside the vehicle before being supported by Abhishek and another man as he walked into hospital, an AFP photographer said.

Unnamed sources quoted by the Press Trust of India described his admission to hospital as a “routine medical check-up”. Hospital officials said X-rays were taken of his stomach and chest, they added.

Indian newspapers marked Bachchan’s birthday with a series of interviews. The Bombay Times commented that he had “never looked better. Or fitter” when they spoke to him two days ago on a film shoot.

“I enjoy being alive, I look for a new struggle, a new experience every day. An artiste has no right to say he is satisfied, that’s being defeatist,” he was quoted as saying.