Bachchan hospitalised

INDIA: Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who turned 66 Saturday, was taken for medical treatment after complaining of abdominal cramps, a hospital spokesman said, as worried fans feared for his health.

"He has stomach pain and is undergoing tests," Mohan Rajan, from Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital, told AFP by telephone. He described the actor's condition as "stable" but could not confirm one report that he had an incisional hernia.

"We are giving him the best possible treatment. We understand the importance of Mr. Bachchan and his value to the nation," he added.

Bachchan, who has superstar status in India, was given painkillers to relieve his symptoms as doctors wait for the results of blood tests and a scan on his abdomen, Rajan said in a later media statement.

The results are expected Sunday morning and Bachchan would be kept in overnight, he said, adding: "Further treatment will be decided based on the report."

Bachchan's wife, Jaya, his actor son Abhishek, and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World and model turned actress, plus other members of his family were at his bedside, the spokesman said.

Abhishek Bachchan and his wife initially accompanied Bachchan in an ambulance to the Nanavati Hospital near his home in the northern Mumbai suburb of Juhu at lunchtime, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

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

Mumbai, Sunday, AFP