Big B discharged after two surgeries

Veteran Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan said on Friday he had been discharged from hospital and was recuperating at home after undergoing surgery twice for an abdominal problem.

"Am back home in familiar surroundings, gently taking in all that now engulfs me," the 69-year-old actor wrote on his blog after leaving the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai, the city home to the Bollywood film industry.

"The surgery discomfort and soreness persists, but will take a while to finally erase itself from the pain glands," he wrote, adding that "God's grace and prayers of the extended family have put me back on track again."

Bachchan, who continues to act in several films every year, was admitted to hospital earlier this month after complaining of abdominal pain, sparking worries about his health among his millions of adoring fans.

The actor spent weeks in hospital in 2005, including one in intensive care, after bowel surgery.

The lanky star nearly died following an accident on the set of the 1982 film "Coolie" where he ruptured his spleen during a fight scene.

Fans held vigils outside his hospital and made offerings at temples and mosques as they prayed for his recovery at the time.

"The Big B", as he is commonly known, is treated like royalty in movie-mad India and is the father of Bollywood star Abhishek, who is married to former Miss World Aishwarya Rai.

Bachchan was the first Indian actor to feature at London's Madame Tussauds waxworks museum and was voted "actor of the millennium" in a BBC online poll in 1999.

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