How India was affected by coolie fever A smash Bachchan gave a superhit forty years ago

More than 40 years ago, the original coolie arrived in a crimson outfit with a falcon as a pet. Fans are lining up in anticipation and shelling out thousands of dollars for a single cinema ticket when Rajinikanth’s Coolie opens on August 14. When Amitabh Bachchan’s Coolie was released in December 1983, it sparked a similar excitement more than forty years earlier. Theaters became temples for the “angry young man”‘s devotees.

This is due to the fact that Amitabh Bachchan’s Coolie was more than just a film; it was a national phenomenon that caused the distinction between life and film to become hazy. Bachchan faced a near-fatal accident while shooting a fight sequence for the film with Puneet Issar.

Bachchan’s injuries became a topic of national conversation. According to author-journalist Avijit Ghosh’s book When Ardh Satya met Himmatwala, which is about Hindi cinema from the 1980s, “for many days, newspapers carried his health report on the front page.”

Bachchan’s life was on the verge of collapse for a few weeks. “India prayed,” Ghosh writes.

People from across the country prayed for Bachchan’s recovery. Its release turned theatres into temples.

“I as a school-going kid, watched Coolie [1983] with my parents at the Model Cinema in the old-walled city of Ahmedabad. Vishal Dave, a wildlife photographer and chartered accountant from Ahmedabad, said on X, “Extremely housefull shows for many-many weeks.”

Since the film’s December 1983 debut, Bachchan’s portrayal of Iqbal Aslam Khan has been so popular that, as of 2012, the Coolies in Kanpur have celebrated Big B’s birthday annually, according to news agency ANI.

According to trade sources cited by India Today Magazine in May 1984, months after the film’s debut, Coolie was one of just 13 films to surpass the Rs 1-crore milestone in any significant area. Coolie was ready to start operating in the interior regions after reaching its jubilee week in Bombay (now Mumbai). According to the report, the company was still making about Rs 7 lakh a month in the former state.

According to a May 1984 India Today Magazine article citing trade sources, Coolie was one of just 13 films to surpass the Rs 1-crore milestone in any significant area, months after its premiere. In Bombay (now Mumbai), Coolie was about to start operating in the interior when it passed its jubilee week. According to the report, it was still making about Rs 7 lakh a month in the former state.

“Amitabh Bachchan’s Coolie movie is the only one India will ever have. That aura, that red kurta, that 786 badge. He was a pure legend,” wrote a Big B fan on X, while sharing the poster of the 1983 blockbuster.

In Rajinikanth’s 2025-Coolie moment, it’s important to remember how Amitabh Bachchan’s accident caused fans to pray for his recovery and turn movie anticipation into a national vigil. When Coolie was eventually released in 1983, theaters were full for weeks on end, demonstrating the affection that was evident in both urban and rural areas.

AMITABH BACHCHAN’S COOLIE SET ACCIDENT

The incident happened in July 1982 in Bengaluru during a high-stakes action scene for the Manmohan Desai-Bachchan film. One of the directors, Desai, had a jubilee run for each of his twelve films. Bachchan was adored by everyone, and the stakes were enormous.

The choreography briefly went horribly wrong while Bachchan and co-star Puneet Issar were doing a leap. He was supposed to tumble to the ground after hitting a table, but in the fight scene, he struck the corner of the table instead.

Bachchan was hit with a huge amount of power in the midsection. He was taken to St. Philomena’s Hospital in Bangalore after losing consciousness right away.

He was sent to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. Amitabh Bachchan was intended to land on a table and then the ground during the battle sequence, but instead he hit the corner of the table. (Photo: File)

Doctors once pronounced him clinically dead. His life, which had become nearly legendary to millions, was saved only by the prompt injection of adrenaline.

Fans of all ages were overcome with anxiety and worry throughout India. People begged for his healing in letters written in their own blood. The public’s overwhelming, almost reverent, emotional interest in his survival was remarkable.

Coolie Hero’s return and Amitabh Bachchan’s stay in the intensive care unit

Amitabh gradually recovered from the edge following several surgeries and weeks spent in the critical care unit (ICU). On September 24, 1982, over two months later, he appeared in public in what is now Mumbai, formerly Bombay.

It was a great comfort and thrill to see him alive, in front of his supporters. Millions of people across were inspired by his homecoming, which went beyond his own personal healing.

Additionally, the mishap altered Coolie’s trajectory.

In the original climax, Amitabh’s character, Iqbal, was supposed to die. The filmmakers changed the story after the accident. Iqbal survived. Amitabh Bachchan appeared in public in Mumbai two months after the injury. (Image: India Today)

The accident video was kept in the final cut of the movie. With a caption stating that it was the incident where Bachchan was hurt, the image is captured at the precise moment of the injury.

The nation’s anticipation for Coolie in theatres must have been apparent to the filmmakers and the actors because of just one incident. As soon as Bachchan recovered, filming started, and a million people gathered to see him.

Avijit Ghosh describes the scene at Reclamation Ground in Bombay (now Mumbai) six months after the injury in his book, quoting from the biography of Rishi Kapoor, Bachchan’s co-star in Coolie.

Since the police couldn’t afford it, local dadas had to be requisitioned for the bandobast, and more than a lakh people showed up for the shoot. I can still recall the tense atmosphere each time Amitabh appeared in public and the audience erupted in a roar I had never heard before,” Kapoor claimed.

COOLIE’S 1983 RELEASE AND BOX OFFICE SUCCESS

The movie was viewed as a tale of optimism, survival, and the extraordinary connection between an actor and his audience when it was eventually released on December 2, 1983, rather than just as entertainment.

Despite Amitabh Bachchan’s accident turning Coolie into a national event, the film’s box office journey unfolded against an industry in crisis.

“Commercial films, big and small, were falling like nine-pins against pressure from video on one hand, and the industry’s own weaknesses on the other,” noted India Today in May 1984. The magazine added that the video cassette boom had crippled overseas markets too. Coolie was a hit among the ‘flm-pirates’ too.

The film’s attractiveness was further enhanced by its soundtrack. Anand Bakshi’s lyrics and Laxmikant Pyarelal’s music produced songs that stuck in your head long after the credits had rolled.

Songs like ‘Dunia ka Bojh’ and ‘Tumse Milke Accha Laga’ were chartbusters, capturing both the vibrancy of the story and the emotional undercurrents of the characters.

‘The falcon’ was not merely a prop; Bachchan’s Coolie actually spotted it. At pivotal moments in the narrative, it served as a metaphor of fate and divine intervention, saving Iqbal. Coolie of 1983 didn’t have just Amitabh Bachchan, but also his falcon, Allarakha. The director, Manmohan Desai, himself introduced the bird, which fluttered its way into all of the film’s pivotal scenes.

The India Today magazine article claims that Danny Desai, a 22-year-old “special effects wizard” and Desai’s nephew, designed the mechanical falcon’s radio-controlled flight patterns.

With an estimated 70 million tickets sold, the film went on to become the highest-grossing Bollywood picture of 1983.

“Coolie, with a rare Muslim protagonist in a mainstream film, and loaded with religious references became a box office sensation,” writes Ghosh in his book on 80s Hindi cinema. “Burqawalis have patronised Coolie in a big way,” he quotes Manmohan Desai as saying from Film Information of January 14, 1984.

Its story, memorable performances, and catchy songs contributed just as much to its success as the public’s appreciation of Amitabh’s tenacity.

The two main characters in Coolie, Rajinikanth and Bacchan, have collaborated on other films together. In Andhaa Kaanoon (1983), Rajinikanth made his Bollywood debut alongside Bachchan in a special cameo. Later, Rajinikanth performed a supporting role in Hum (1991) and Geraftaar (1985).

After more than thirty years apart, they came together for the Tamil movie Vettaiyan (2024), in which Bachchan made his Tamil debut and Rajinikanth played a police officer.

The accident, recovery, and release of Amitabh’s Coolie continue to rank among the most remarkable moments in Indian cinema history. With its own songs, stunts, and spectacle, Rajinikanth’s Coolie is being presented today as a remembrance of that historic occasion when life and film came together and the country held its breath for its star. More than 40 years ago, a Coolie frenzy was enacted in theaters.