INDIAN film superstar Rajinikanth
The Sri Ramachandra hospital in Chennai said the 61-year-old Tamil language cinema icon was moved to a special ward yesterday to improve his breathing.
“He is showing a positive response to the treatment,” the hospital said in a statement issued yesterday evening, adding that a team was “closely watching” his condition.
Rajinikanth, a former bus conductor-turned-actor, fell ill on the first day’s shooting of his new film Rana at the end of April and has been admitted twice to hospital.
He has been in the private Sri Ramachandra hospital since last Friday where medical sources said he was being treated for pneumonia and a kidney ailment.
On Monday, doctors removed fluid from his chest that was causing breathing difficulties.
Rajinikanth, who has starred in more than 175 films in a career dating back to 1975, is one of India’s biggest movie stars and inspires fanatical devotion from his many fans.
Last year he starred in Endhiran (Robot), the most expensive Indian movie ever made, which broke box office records.
One fan, Karthik H, wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter: “You have problematic kidneys? I have two clean ones. Take one. Please get back to acting soon.”
Amitabh Bachchan, who starred alongside Rajinikanth in a number of films, said on Twitter that everyone who loved the star was disturbed at his illness.
“I have spoken to him and been in touch with wife... Rajinikant is improving gradually she informs me, today by sms .. we hope and pray that he recovers as soon as possible .. our prayers,” he added.
Rajinikanth’s family has urged fans not to hold a vigil at the hospital but instead to offer prayers at local temples.
News of his move to ICU, however, did not stop a crowd gathering at the medical centre in the Chennai suburbs, television pictures showed.
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