Sonali Bendre, who starred in Bollywood films with superstars like Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan, took a break from showbiz in 2004. The television soap opera Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye, in which she made an effort at a comeback in 2014, went off air a few months later. The newsroom drama streaming series The Broken News, whose second season just aired to positive reviews, has helped Sonali find her feet.
Reflecting on her journey, Sonali shared the challenges she faced, particularly after her cancer diagnosis in 2018, which deeply affected her and her family. “It was shocking. At times, I wondered how this could happen to me. I was doing a reality show when this happened. We were shooting every week. So, when you are in the public eye and you suddenly vanish, after which someone replaces you, there will be all kinds of talk about it,” she said during a chat with Shubhankar Mishra.
Describing the moment, she realized she had a problem. Sonali recalled, “I knew something wasn’t right with me. When I went to the doctor, we discovered. At first, I thought it might be small. As the tests progressed, we realized that it wasn’t small. I could see it on the doctor’s face. When they did the PET scan, my doctor’s and husband Goldie Behl’s faces were white. I saw all the colour fading away from their faces.”
“The technician there said it’s like a Christmas tree inside. When you undergo a PET scan, the cancer cells light up, through which the doctors spot where all it exists. They said it had spread so much inside me that the scanning looked like staring at a Christmas tree. Initially, I was in denial. I tried to sleep it off. But nothing changed when I woke up. My husband (Goldie Behl) made some quick decisions, and in two days, we were out of the country. I was fighting with him because Ranveer (her son) was not there as he was away at a summer camp. I told him to slow down and give me time to organize things. At one point, he snapped and told me to stop thinking of other things and focus on myself and staying alive,” she said, recalling her battle against Stage-4 cancer.
She also recalled that she had only a thirty percent chance of surviving when the battle began, and how the doctor's announcement had made her respond angrily. “I asked the doctor how could he say that. I kept on asking how this could happen. When you are in denial, you lash out at the person in front of you. Looking back, I realised he was just telling me the truth, and nothing can change the reality.”
Sonali also emphasized the significance of having an honest conversation about cancer, saying that the enormous response to her social media remark made her aware of the disease's stigma and frequency. “I had to go through such extreme chemotherapy that it was like a nuclear attack on my body. You are killing everything in your body and then rebuilding,” she recalled.
She also recalled the day she underwent chemotherapy and recorded the event on film.
“It was tough. I had a strong attachment to my hair. Logically, it’s not a significant loss. It’s just hair. It will grow back once you cut it. But emotions and vanity don’t always follow logic. My hair was a source of pride for me. I had endorsed every hair product imaginable at that time. I was known for my hair. Then suddenly, it was all about to go, and I just said, ‘let it go.’ I had to let go of that attachment,” she added.
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