“I want Amitabh uncle to return home quickly. After that, I want to see him again,” said nine-and-a-half-year-old Mita Mondal.

She had a problem with her heart and needed a surgery at a total cost of around Rs 18 lakh, which was not within the means of her father Debu Mondal who worked at a tea stall.

Bachchan came to know about it and called up her family to donate Rs 2.5 lakh which went towards the first of the three surgeries she needed.

“Amitabh Bachchan called us and donated 2.5 lakhs with which we did the first phase of the operation,” Utpal Roy, secretary of Diganta, an NGO which raised money for Mita’s operation, said.

“Mita, accompanied by her father and her mother, went to the Kalighat temple today and offered prayers for the quick recovery of the lion-hearted megastar,” Roy said.