“Amitabh Bachchan saved my life” when Iraqi militias kidnapped crime reporter Hussein Zaid; “They thought that I knew Amitabh personally…”

Former investigative journalist S. Hussain Zaidi once recounted how Amitabh Bachchan’s fame saved him from Iraqi militias.

It’s been 55 years since Amitabh Bachchan ruled Bollywood. The actor has earned the title of ‘superstar’ thanks to his talent and hard work. In fact, his superstardom knows no bounds, as writer and former investigative journalist S. Hussain Zaidi once emphasized. A few years ago, a writer told how Big B’s fame saved him from Iraqi militias.

How did Amitabh Bachchan save the life of journalist Hussain Zaidi?

One day, crime reporter S. Hussein Zaidi was taken hostage by Iraqi militias who claimed that his regime possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He recalled this incident during an interview with Hindustan Times in 2015: “I wanted to talk to people close to Saddam and I was trying to gain access to them when I was kidnapped in Baghdad.”

Mentioning that he was taken to a secret location blindfolded and surrounded by a group of men who asked, “I am Pakistani.” I said I am Hindi from India. He then said something in Arabic that I did not understand. He later asked, “Do you know Ameesha Bakkan?” I said the only Amisha I know is Amisha Patel. He scolded me very much for not knowing Ameesha Bakkan,” Zaidi said.

Later, the irritated policeman left for a while and returned with a still from the film Shakti, directed by Ramesh Sippy (1982). “Suddenly it dawned on me that this guy is copying Amitabh Bachchan from Shakti. This realization made me scream with joy and this guy misunderstood that I was friends with Ameesha Bakkan (Amitabh Bachchan). He then made me write a note that if he ever comes to Mumbai, I will meet him with Amitabh Bachchan. I immediately agreed and saved my life.”

Shakti is one of the iconic films of Amitabh Bachchan and also stars Dilip Kumar, Rakhi Gulzar, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Amrish Puri. This is the only film directed by Salim-Javed in which two superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar collaborated.

Meanwhile, author and reporter S. Hussain Zaidi’s best-known works include Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia, Queens of the Mumbai Mafia, Black Friday, My Name is Abu Salem and The Mumbai Avengers.