On Friday morning we woke up to reports of the indefatigable Mahesh Bhatt having undergone heart surgery. But when I touched base with the Arth director here’s what he had to say, “It’s technically incorrect to call this procedure a surgery. A surgery is where they use the knife. Angioplasty is a bloodless common procedure. It takes half hour and a mandatory stay in the ICU and then one is discharged the next day.”

Bhatt Saab is all praise for the medical team which handled his bloodless surgical procedure. “I was in the hands of the best of best team of doctors at the H.N Reliance Hospital. The procedure was on January 16. I was home on January 18. I am alive and ‘kicking’ my friend. And I was working on my next book since 5 am when your message pinged.”

Bhatt Saab further added, “My procedure was planned for the Jan 16. It was during a routine body check-up that the doctors raised a ‘red flag’ and suggested that since I am in good health we must take a pre-emptive step and deal with this.”

The unwavering filmmaker says he went into the surgical procedure as a pre-emptive. “I had no symptoms which compelled me to take this self-initiated step. I am 74 and with age the ‘calcification’ of the arteries does take place. Let me leave you with this unchangeable truth. Ageing is not optional it’s inevitable.”

Also Read: Mahesh Bhatt quotes Rabindranath Tagore at KIFF; says, “India is there to unite all races”