David Dhawan had a close brush with mortality when he collapsed at Bunty Walia’s wedding reception in December 2012. David has only filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia to thank for being alive.
It was Lakhia who rushed to David’s assistance when the veteran director fell violently ill at the reception. Strangely David Dhawan, an immensely popular figure in the film industry, got no help from most of the invitees who one is told, seemed “too shocked to react” to his sudden collapse. The entire restaurant was filled with David’s friends. He’s a very popular guy.
But only Apoorva Lakhia and Kunal Kohli actually came forward to save David from a potentially fatal situation. In fact, David’s wife didn’t even know who Lakhia was. It was Lakhia who picked up David, put him in his car, then rushed across a one-way street on his feet to let the driver cruise speedily the wrong way to reach the Lilavati hospital fast.
Later David Dhawan told me, “Apoorva Lakhia was wonderful. My family and I can’t thank him enough for what he did. In fact, my elder son Rohit was in Bali with his wife and my younger son Varun was in Bangkok shooting an ad with Alia Bhatt. They both wanted to rush back home immediately. I told them to relax. I was taken care of well enough.”
Reliving the nightmare David recounted, “I had gone to Bunty Walia’s party after taking my insulin injection for my diabetic condition. But I forgot to take the mandatory sweet food article thereafter. 4-5 hours had passed since the insulin intake and my stomach was empty. Suddenly at the party started shivering and I broke out into a sweat. I simply freaked out. My wife who was not with me arrived in ten minutes. But in the meanwhile, I was fed some chocolate. By the time I was put in the car I was already better. At Lilavati all the doctors are known to us. So the tests were done immediately. It was all clear, I was back home resting, watching a cricket match on television.”
David admitted it was a close shave for him. “Anything could have happened. If it wasn’t for people like Apoorva Lakhia and Kunal Kohli who came to my rescue. I really need to look after myself. I don’t want to keep spoiling my family’s holidays. And I am sorry I spoilt Bunty Walia’s party.”
It is after the incident that Varun took charge of his father’s physical fitness, controlling his diet and making sure David goes for his morning walks.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and not necessarily those of IWMBuzz. IWMBuzz does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information provided herein.
