Ali Peter John

There was a time when just being diagnosed for the Big-C (cancer) sent shivers down the spines of people in the industry as there was almost a firm belief that the Big-C meant the beginning of the end and there was no way of beating it or conquering it….

And so we lost stars and others associated with the industry trying their best to get over the greatest killer in the world, but only a very few survived to tell their grim stores about how they got out of the clutches of cancer. Among those who succumbed to the Big-C were actresses Nargis and Nutan, Prithviraj Kapoor and his wife, two villains called Rajan Haksar and Jeevan and some others who kept the ailment a secret for reasons best known to them. There was the rare case of a husband and wife who both fell victims to the Big-C and couldn’t survive in spite of the huge sums of money spent in the best of hospitals, the husband was a leading PRO called Gopal Pandey and his wife was a young actress and the rise, Tamanna….

But, of late, it seems like the luck of some of our stars or the prayers of their fans, family and well-wishers saved them or medicine had taken rapid strides and had found some way of saving the victim if the ailment was diagnosed early…

It was therefore a very big victory for Manisha Koirala who was diagnosed for ovarian cancer and was flown to the Sloan Kettering Hospital which specialised in the treatment of cancer. She was almost given up, but she staged a grand fightback and returned home heeled to start working in films like “Dear Maya” and “Sanju”. She went over step ahead and wrote a book titled ‘Heeled’ which was all about her victory over cancer and the book became a best seller and turned out to be a source of inspiration for many. She is still under treatment, but his completely out of danger….

Irfan Khan and his family kept the fact about his ailment a secret, but the secret was out soon and Irfan has been undergoing treatment for almost a year and every time there is talk about his being heeled, he is back in hospital and according to sources will take many more months to be completely heeled. His falling a victim has been a very big setback for his career which was at its peak when the mysterious ailment struck and left him out of the race…

If there was speculation and rumours at their worst, it was when Rishi Kapoor was rushed to the same hospital and has been there for the last ten months. Doctors have now declared him out of all danger, but he will still have to go through chemotherapy sessions and other treatments, but on the whole, he is almost back to normal and living a normal life except when it is time for his chemo and other treatments which according to the doctors will take at least another six months, which means that he may return home some time in August and may even start working on a slower pace, but it will take him almost another year to her over the curse of the Big-C. In the meanwhile, Rishi has a release in “Jhootha Kahi Ka”(he had done another film with the same title and with Neetu Singh in the romantic lead more than 35 years ago). He has signed two other films and there are offers coming in, but he is playing it safe, both for himself and for those who are planning films with him.

Another winner has been the one-time Miss India, Sonali Bendre who spent the least time in hospital and was back with her head shaven and her mood optimistic and cheerful. She is not only back to work, especially in helping her husband, Goldie Behl in his production activities and giving motivational talks at seminars and conclaves on how cancer has made a difference to her life and how it is not as dangerous a disease as it is made out to be, especially in these days when treatment has not only become easier but healing is also possible.

The well-known cricketer Yuvraaj Singh had also fought back cancer and was even considered fit enough to play cricket again, but he couldn’t find his own form and is now out of the team and only recently he announced his retirement from the game….

There may be other cases both among the celebrities and the workers and technicians. Sunil Dutt and Nargis and even Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kapoor were doing a lot of services to cheer up and champion the cause of cancer victims. But what are the two committed people to do in a country of 124 crore people, where the victims are too many and the resources and the medication too little to fight this killer disease? There is a positive cure to it, and that is prevention, but then who has the time and the will to think about an enemy so cruel when there are others attractive temptations of life calling all the time??

Who will be the next victim? Only God or not even God can know and make us his hopeless creations know.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Nargis, Manisha Koirala, Irfaan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Sonali Bendre, Bollywood Celebrities, Cancer