India’s ‘King of Bollywood’ is ‘doing well’ after heatstroke hospitalization reports

CNN —

Shah Rukh Khan’s manager has said India’s “King of Bollywood” is recovering well after reports he was hospitalized with heatstroke, as parts of the country swelter during a weeks-long general election.

The 58-year-old superstar was admitted for treatment on Wednesday in the city of Ahmedabad in western Gujarat state, police told local reporters. Maximum temperatures there climbed to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.

“To all of Mr Khan’s fans and well wishers — he is doing well. Thank you for your love, prayers and concern,” his manager Pooja Dadlani wrote on X on Thursday.

Khan “was admitted to K D Hospital after suffering from a heat stroke,” the Press Trust of India reported Wednesday, citing Ahmedabad (Rural) Superintendent of Police Om Prakash Jat. Video broadcast by a local news agency showed Khan’s wife, Gauri, arriving at the hospital on Thursday morning to visit him.

CNN has contacted KD Hospital for comment.

Also known as “King Khan,” the actor has near-demigod status in India, having starred in more than 90 movies and earned multiple accolades. He received India’s fourth-highest civilian honor in 2005, and a spot on Time magazine’s 100 most influential list in 2022.

Khan was in Ahmedabad to attend an Indian Premier League cricket match between the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team he co-owns, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

His hospitalization comes as heatwave conditions continue to engulf parts of the country, causing illness and forcing some schools to shut, as temperatures once again rise to levels that threaten human limits of survivability.

Student Lim Sokha, 15, uses a fan to cool down during her class in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 2, 2024.

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