Once a prominent figure in Bollywood, starring alongside icons like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, Sonali Bendre took a hiatus from the film industry in 2004. Although she attempted a comeback in 2014 with the television soap opera Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye, the show was discontinued a few months later. However, Sonali has now regained her footing with the newsroom drama streaming series The Broken News, whose second season recently debuted to positive feedback.
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 how she first became aware of her condition, 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 remembered starting the fight with just a 30 per cent chance of survival and reacting angrily to the doctor who delivered the news. “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 highlighted the importance of discussing cancer openly, noting that the overwhelming response to her social media statement made her realize its prevalence and the associated stigma. “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 further remembered the experience of losing her hair due to chemotherapy and documenting it in a video. “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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