Looks like you’ll be safe even in the deadliest of spots like Iraq, if you’re an Amitabh Bachchan fan. In a recent interview to Hindustan Times well-known crime journalist and writer Hussain Zaidi speaks of how he was taken hostage by militants in Iraq. He says, it was Amitabh Bachchan who saved his life.
I went to Iraq when Saddam Hussain was toppled by the US forces. I wanted to talk to people close to Saddam and I was trying to get access to them when I got kidnapped in Baghdad. I was taken to a secret place and you won’t believe who saved my life: Amitabh Bachchan! When my blindfold was removed, I saw bearded men except one guy who was clean-shaven and had long hair. He asked me if I was Pakistani. I said that I am Hindu, from India. Then he said something in Arabic which I didn’t understand. Later he asked: Do you know Ameesha Bakkan? I said that the only Ameesha I know is Ameesha Patel. He scolded me real bad that I didn’t know Ameesha Bakkan. He got angry and went inside a room and came out with a still from Shakti (1982). Suddenly it fell upon me that this guy is copying Amitabh Bachchan from Shakti. That realisation made me scream with joy and that guy misunderstood that I am friends with Ameesha Bakkan (Amitabh Bachchan). He then made me write a note that if he will ever come to Mumbai I will make him meet Amitabh Bachchan. I agreed immediately and saved my life.
– Hussain Zaidi, Journalist-Writer
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