For months, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan had been putting off a surgery on his shoulder because of his shooting and promotional schedules. He needn’t have worried; the operation was over and done with in one-and-a-half hours at Breach Candy Hospital.

Once it had been completed successfully, he waved and exchanged smiles with his wife. He will wear a sling around his arm for four to six weeks.

SRK (43) had hurt himself on the sets of a film in November last year. He let the surgery wait for fear that it would upset his schedule, much of which involved promoting Billu.

Dr Sanjay Desai, an arthroscopic shoulder specialist, conducted the operation. “The surgery began at 4.30 pm and ended at 6. It went off as planned,” he said. Apart from Dr Desai, the team attending to SRK included Dr Rajiv Sharma, his personal medical adviser and physician, and Dr Ali Irani, physiotherapist at Breach Candy.

SRK had a supraspinatus tear, a condition where the rotator cuff tears and causes inflammation and pain. This restricts movement of the shoulder. He had suffered a supraspinatus partial tear in 2003; the tear became total after the accident.

“He chose to do physiotherapy to strengthen his muscle. However, when he injured himself again in November last year, the partial tear developed into a complete tear, leaving no option but surgery,” Irani said.

“Shah Rukh had done an MRI and a CT scan in Los Angeles and had the choice of having the surgery there. However, he chose to undergo surgery in Mumbai as he had faith in Indian doctors and also wanted to stay with his family,” said Dr Desai.

“He will require 4 to 6 weeks of physiotherapy. Till then his arm will have to be in a sling. It will take 5 to 6 months to completely recover,” said Dr Desai.

SRK returned from London, halted at his house, then went to the hospital with his wife Gauri and friend Karan Johar.