MUMBAI: Ravi Shankar spoke to Amitabh Bachchan a few days before his surgery and the Bollywood megastar says the 92-year-old sitar legend did not seem very confident about the operation.
Shankar, whose health had been fragile for the past several years, underwent the heart-valve replacement surgery at the Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California where he breathed his last yesterday.
Bachchan, who had blogged about his phone conversation with Shankar, wrote on twitter today, “…he had called me up a few days back just before going into surgery… just wished to speak to me… now gone!!
“And in his short conversation he did say that he was going in for surgery and did not seem very confident of its success..!!”
“I have had many such experiences with people, who have in a sense had some premonition, of an unpleasant happening…
Strange,” Big B added.
The 70-year-old actor said he was puzzled to know that Shankar had expressed desire to speak to him for the first time even though their families have known each other for several years.
“I was speaking to Pt Ravi Shankar for the very first time ever on the phone. We knew each other, there were strong and long family relationships, a few casual meetings, but nothing more. Why was he wanting to speak to me now? I was puzzled.
“But he came on the line, spoke with great warmth, on seeing me on the television often, of my films and my fans in the house, informed me that he was going in for a surgery ‘Aap se baat kar ke bahut achcha lag raha hai… pata nahin aapse phir kab baat ho sake… Thursday ko meri surgery hai…
dekhiye kya hota hai!’ (I feel good talking to you.. Don’t know when we’ll be able to speak next, my surgery is on Thursday, let’s see what happens),” Bachchan wrote in his blog.
Bachchan said with the demise of Shankar, an entire life, an era, and a most incredible period in the history of classical music in India has come to an end. “Pandit Ravi Shankar’s sitar spoke when he played it, and from today it can only be heard through his countless recordings and performances. It shall never speak again – metaphorically.”-PTI
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