Amitabh Bachchan apologises after wrongly crediting father Harivansh Rai Bachchan for Prasoon Joshi’s poem

Actor Amitabh Bachchan has issued an apology after wrongly crediting his father, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, for a poem that was actually written by lyricist and poet Prasoon Joshi. He admitted to the gaffe in a follow-up tweet and apologised for the error.

On the night of August 5, Amitabh had shared a motivational poem on Twitter and credited his father as its author. A day later, he wrote in a tweet, “CORRECTION : Kal T-3617 pe jo kavita chhapi thi, uske lekhak babuji nahi hai. Woh galat tha. Uski rachna kavi Prasoon Joshi ne ki hai. Iske liye main kshama prarthi hoon (Yesterday, the poem posted by me on T-3617 was not written by my father. That was incorrect. The poem was written by Prasoon Joshi. I apologise for the error).” He also shared the full text of the poem and credited Prasoon as its rightful author.

Earlier, Amitabh had shared a doctored image of himself kicking (literally) the coronavirus as his son Abhishek Bachchan looked on. The accompanying poem, wrongly attributed to Harivansh Rai, read, “Dhanush utha, prahaar kar, Tu sabse pehle vaar kar, Agni si dhadhak-dhadhak, Hiran si sajag sajag, Sinh si dahaad kar, Ruke na tu thake na tu, Jhuke na tu thame na tu (Pick up the bow and strike, Be the one to strike first, Flare up like the fire, Be alert like the deer, Roar like the lion, Don’t stop, don’t get tired, Don’t bow down, don’t stop).” Amitabh recently returned home after testing negative for the coronavirus. He and Abhishek were hospitalised after testing positive on July 11. While

Amitabh was discharged on August 2, after three weeks of treatment, Abhishek continues to be hospitalised.

Amitabh’s daughter-in-law Aishwarya

Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya were also hospitalised for some time after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. However, they were discharged from Nanavati hospital on July 27 after testing negative. Hindustan Times