'One more millimeter and..... paralysis'; Saif Ali Khan opens up about attack

Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan has opened up about the stabbing attack that left him hospitalised after an intruder entered his home on January 16, leading to a violent confrontation. 

The A-lister told an Indian publication that he and his wife Kareena Kapoor were sleeping in their room when a member of the house staff came running inside to warm them of an intruder in their younger son Jeh's room. 

Saif said that the attacker was wielding two knives and demanding money. When Saif attempted to subdue him, he retaliated by repeatedly stabbing the actor. "I couldn’t handle it after a while as there were two knives in action. I was praying that someone could get this guy off me," Saif stated. 

 Finally the nanny Geeta managed to pull him back and then the two locked the attacker in Jeh's room. However, he managed to escape from there. 

Since no driver was available at the time, Saif took a rickshaw to reach Lelavati Hospital along with a house help named Hari and his young son Taimoor. 

Inside the rickshaw, Taimoor, who had insisted on coming along, asked, "Are you going to die?" Saif replied, "No." 

At the hospital, the Nawab was told that his injuries were far more serious than he thought. Doctors told him that one knife had punctured his shoulder blade and come dangerously close to the spinal cord. "It came really close to being paralyzed. One more millimeter, and we’d be talking paralysis," the actor narrated. 

The star was surprised at the attacker missing his jugular, despite landing a knife on his neck: "I don’t understand how he missed my carotid artery and jugular vein... it’s not possible to cut somebody’s neck the way my neck is cut and not kill them." 

The Nawab of Pataudi said that though the attack left him with "30 of the most awful" scars, he was relieved that the attack had not left him with more serious injuries.