Indian Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was stabbed in a fight with an intruder at his home early Thursday morning and underwent surgery at a hospital, according to media reports.

The 54-year-old actor was rushed to the hospital from his home in Mumbai, the country’s financial and entertainment capital, where he lives with his film star wife Kareena Kapoor and two sons.

Two of the six wounds were deep and one near the spine, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted a doctor at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital as saying.

Indian media quoted police as saying that an intruder broke into the house around 2:30 a.m. local time and fled after stabbing Khan. An employee of Khan’s house was also injured during the attack and was treated, they said.

The police are conducting an investigation and have launched a search for the attacker.

Kapoor said in a statement that their family was fine and asked “the media and fans to be patient and stop speculating as the police are already conducting their due investigation.”

Bollywood star

Among the country’s most successful stars, Khan is the son of former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore. His daughter from a previous marriage, Sara, is also a Bollywood actor. He and Kapoor have two young sons and are one of Bollywood’s most famous couples.

Khan, who is also a film producer, has acted in around 70 films and television series. He starred in several notable films and series, among them Holy games — Netflix’s first Indian production — which was released in 2018.

He has won multiple awards for his roles in Hindi cinema, including seven Filmfare Awards. In 2010, he received the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.

After the attack, movie stars and opposition leaders called on police to step up security measures in the city.

“If such high-ranking people with… security can be attacked in their homes, what could happen to ordinary citizens?” Clyde Crasto, spokesman for the Nationalist Congress Party, asked at X.

Actor-director Pooja Bhatt also called for a greater police presence in the suburb where the attack took place – home to many in the film industry.

“The city, and especially the queen of the suburbs, has never felt so unsafe before,” she told Xu, using a popular description for the trendy Bandra area.

Mohit Rajhans, a Toronto-based writer and television host who has run into Khan in the past, told CBC News that the attack sparks a wider debate about social media surveillance surrounding Bollywood stars.

Such performers, he said, are at the center of “paparazzi culture,” where support often turns into fans gathering around stars’ homes and — in some cases — physically fighting security details to get close to them and their families.

“If you are familiar with the actual culture of the Bollywood star, you will begin to understand that there was a huge amount of … privacy that these stars had to sacrifice as a result of the multimedia culture,” he said, noting that things as personal as their flight details and daily movements are monitored and recorded.

“Many of these stars, whether they’re leaving restaurants or simply on vacation, are starting to see their lives translated online 24/7. And that could be a security issue,” Rajhans said.