Kunal Kapoor Starts His New Show 'Podcast Md By Ketto' Which Aims To Raise Awareness About Cancer And Life-Threatening Diseases

Jyothi Venkatesh

Kunal Kapoor’s new show ‘Podcast MD by Ketto’ will air beginning October 1st. While the actor is no stranger to delving into novel terrains, Podcast MD by Ketto promises to deliver content that explores the uncharted territory of medical ordeals faced by individuals and their caregivers. In his show, Kunal will be interacting with individuals who have experienced some tough medical ordeals. The guests include cancer survivors and caregivers ⁠— filmmakers, journalists and other notable personalities who have a story to share, with a hope that their struggle will inspire people who are going through similar trials in life and also help them understand more about the disease. The first season will deal with the big C i.e. Cancer. Season one has some heart-wrenching moments, some light moments, and moments that will leave a lasting impact. The show will be available across all major platforms like Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, JioSaavn, and Hubhopper. You can also find it on eplog.media, the production partner for the podcast.

 “When someone is suddenly hit with a serious medical condition, there is so much that one isn’t prepared for. One may or may not have been prepared to handle the finances, but everything else that comes with it, one certainly isn’t prepared for. And that’s what Podcast MD by Ketto is going to explore. The emotional aspect, dealing with doctors and hospitals, making difficult choices and just coping with it all,” says Kunal, the co-founder of Ketto, Asia’s most trusted crowdfunding platform. With the new show, Ketto aims to create more awareness about the personal challenges that survivors and caregivers have to go through including taboos appended to the diseases, navigating through myriad treatment options, and the emotional distress caused by the disease(s).

Kunal is not new to the social impact space. His crowdfunding firm Ketto has raised funds over ₹ 500 crores for over 2.8 lakh fundraisers with the help of 55 lakh+ donors. With the majority of fundraisers being about healthcare, Ketto has made huge strides to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for people across India. With the new Podcast, the aim is to create more awareness so people can understand the circumstances that lead to diseases and the effort that it takes to heal and go back to living a normal life. “We have realized that in spite of increased efforts and awareness, the number of cancer-related cases is only increasing. So, we decided that for our first season we will feature people who had to deal with the big C. I am going to be chatting with cancer survivors and caregivers from different backgrounds to understand how they navigated through the disease and the major challenges they faced,” Kunal adds. The season one of Podcast MD by Ketto will feature 12 episodes. Some of the guests who would be featuring in them include National Award-winning film-maker Teenaa Kaur, Journalist, and writer Sanjukta Sharma, Founder of Love Heals Cancer Dimple Parmar, and Smriti Shivdasani.

 Varun Sheth, Ketto’s founder & CEO hopes that the Podcast will be able to bridge the information gap that exists when it comes to the knowledge that is tacit to survivors of life-threatening diseases. “Medical crowdfunding has revolutionized access to healthcare for people but there are other gaps beyond the financial aspect of the treatment. The whole experience from diagnosis to treatment can be quite overwhelming and sometimes it helps to know how others coped up with what you or your loved ones are going through,” says Varun.

 The first guest of season one will be Teenaa Kaur Pasricha, a National Award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter. Raised in Ajmer, Rajasthan Teenaa was brought up in a middle-class family.  Her documentary ‘1984: When the Sun didn’t Rise’ has won multiple awards in competitions across the world. Teenaa was diagnosed with Breast Cancer right after she came to know that her film had won a National Film Award for ‘Best Investigative Film’ in 2018. Her doctor recommended her to receive the award after undergoing surgery, which she did. Her Chemotherapy sessions began right after she received the award. Teenaa is a firm believer in the power of Homeopathy, Ayurveda and raw food diet and believes the combination of these three things helped her cope up with the side effects of chemotherapy and live a healthier life.

 The second guest, Sanjukta Sharma is a journalist and writer based in Mumbai and an ovarian cancer survivor. She has worked in various publications including The Indian Express, Tehelka and the Mint. Beginning of 2017, Sanjukta quit her full-time job after feeling overworked. Her tiredness was accompanied by bloating and other symptoms. After undergoing a CT scan, her doctor found nodularity along in her uterus. She had to undergo a removal surgery but while performing the surgery her doctor found that the tumor was malignant. In January 2018, she finished her Chemotherapy sessions and was declared cancer-free. Having undergone a tough time during her treatment, she has many insights regarding what challenges cancer patients have to face during treatment and how to tackle them.

Podcast MD by Ketto’s third guest will be Dimple Parmar, the founder of Love Heals Cancer. Nitesh Prajapat and Dimple Parmar got married after they discovered that he had Stage 4 colorectal cancer. They launched Love Heals Cancer in January 2018 to provide support, information, and services to help people in their battle against cancer. Dimple and Nitesh’s met in 2016 in IIM-Calcutta where both of them were MBA students. They quickly connected and became good friends. Nitesh was diagnosed with cancer after he went for a checkup for severe back pain and constipation. Dimple talks about all the difficulties Nitesh had to undergo during chemotherapy and cancer treatment including the side effects of treatment that wreaked havoc on his physical health. Dimple believes it’s important for caregivers to distribute their responsibilities of taking care of the patient to avoid burn-out.

 The fourth guest of the show will be Smriti Shivdasani. Smriti lost both her parents to cancer and 8 years post her mother’s demise, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Smriti began questioning everything in her life. In Jan 2019 she was diagnosed with 4th stage cancer. She had already been through 2 bouts of cancer in 2012 and January 2018 affecting different parts of her body. But she put up a fight again and survived cancer the third time. She says she blended a bit of Ho’oponopono, a Hawaiian healing technique with Jin Shin Jyutsu, the Japanese art of balancing the meridian along with Donna Eden's methods of balancing energies to set her body on the path to recovery.

For more Bollywood updates, follow Bollyy!

Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News,Kunal Kapoor