A routine checkup for a stomach infection was blown out of all proportion by a section of the media. 

Amitabh Bachchan isn't the country's biggest star for nothing. Hence, a visit to a Delhi hospital en route to Mumbai were enough to spiral speculations about his health. "I'm fine and there's absolutely no cause for alarm. On Sunday, I was in Lucknow for a function on the occasion of my father (late poet Harivanshrai Bachchan)'s birthday. On the way back to Mumbai, I had this minor ailment. That's all. No need to raise a hue and cry about it when there are so many important national issues that require urgent attention," Bachchan says.

Although the news of his hospitalisation on Monday morning turned out to be much ado about hardly anything, the Big B's wellwishers feel he needs to look after himself. They feel he's going way beyond the schedules prescribed for someone his age.

"He really needs to slow down," says his son Abhishek. "But Pa just doesn't listen."

Last week, he returned from New York after shooting for Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, and went straight into Ravi Chopra's Babul sets. On Monday morning, he felt queasy.

Meanwhile, his family and close friends have surrounded him at Mumbai's Leelavati hospital, where he is currently being treated. Manoj Desi, an exhibitor, claims that Bachchan's health is stable, and that he hopes he will be discharged this evening.

Amitabh Bachchan admitted in Mumbai hospital

Inputs: Syed Firdaus Ashraf | Photograph: UNI