Saddam Hussain Showed Coolie's Climax Scene To His Troops?

Amitabh Bachchan's 1983 release Coolie was declared a blockbuster at the box-office then and the film still has a huge fan following. And if rumours are to be believed, then Iraq's 5th President Late Saddam Hussain too was a fan of the film.

Certain reports suggest that the late dictator showed the climax of the film to his soldiers, to fill them with confidence, during the Iraq-Iran war. Big B revealed this on his blog however, he did add that this may be a completely make-believe story.

“The Haji Ali Dargah … location for the climax scene for Coolie, when the 'sacred chaadar' from the shrine flies off and wraps itself around my body, taking the bullets, and then surviving after taking out the villain ..Pretty dramatic sequence. Thought and executed brilliantly by Manmohan Desai. We needed to get special permissions from the trust or the religious body that manages the dargah, to shoot there. There were some apprehensions, but eventually it all worked out fine,” he posted on his blog.

“I am told, and this may be entirely in the realm of make belief and rumour, that during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussain had shown this portion of the scene to his troops, to fill them with confidence, because of its religious connotation ! There is no proof of this though !!,” he further added.

Coolie featured Rati Agnihotri, Rishi Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman alongside Bachchan and it was during the shoot of this film, that Amitabh Bachchan got injured critically during a fight scene and it almost cost him his life.