On a day when Bollywood stood up as one in praying for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s speeding recovery, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday described in an encouraging tweet, saying that the Sena patriarch was “a fighter all his life, fights his life!!” and “Prayers needed now”.

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar postponed a music event in view of Thackeray’s “critical health”. In a series of tweets posted after returning home  from Matoshri where he had gone along with actor-son Abhishek to make inquiries about Thackeray’s health, Big B recalled as to how the Sena chief stood by him when he faced  crises in his life and hoped that the latter would emerge victorious in his batter with Yamraj.  

“When I fought for my life after Coolie accident, he came to visit me in hospital, with a cartoon he had drawn — Yamraj defeated!.. Yamraj — God of Death, defeated by me..Wish I was as proficient a cartoonist as he, for tonight I would wish to draw that for him !,” Amitabh tweeted.

“When the Bofors scandal accusations on us were at its peak, he called me home and asked “tell me the truth, are you involved ?”..When I said “NO !”, he said, “Then do not worry about anything. I am with you. You are an actor, go do what you are best at”, Big-B recalled.

‘Balasaheb Thackeray : a fighter all his life, fights his life !! Prayers needed now!,” he tweeted. Amitabh, who has been a family friend of Thackerays over the years, fondly remembered:  “When Jaya and I married, he called us to his house .. and the rituals that were conducted was of the ‘bahu’ coming home !”.