Rakesh Roshan opens up on illness: Cancer sounds scary, but it's not

Hrithik Roshan chose an inspirational way to announce in January that his father Rakesh Roshan was suffering from throat cancer. The actor shared a snap with him from the gym on surgery day to hail the ‘strongest man’ and ‘leader’ of the family. After almost 10 months, the veteran filmmaker has lived up to the epithets his son showered on him. The Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai director has won the battle against cancer. Roshan Sr opened up on his fight against cancer for the first time, revealing how he felt that it was cancer with the initial symptoms itself, how the entire journey was extremely hard for him, but how his positive outlook  and attitude, and support from his daughter Sunaina helped him sail through. 

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In a recent interview with a tabloid, Rakesh Roshan revealed that the first symptom he noticed was a blister below his tongue. Since daughter Sunaina also battled cervical cancer, his first reaction was hoping that it was not cancer. The director then shared that there was no trouble for next three months. However, a random visit to an ENT Specialist and the doctor suggesting that he gets a biopsy done, got him convinced that he indeed had cancer. 

Apart from coming to terms with the diagnosis, meeting several top oncologists and their suggestions of ‘traumatic’ procedures like cutting the tongue and taking a part of the skin from the wrist to replace the affected part on the tongue, further unsettled the family, Rakesh Roshan said. He shared that Hrithik Roshan then contacted Dr Jatin P Shah, who assured them that none of the aforementioned procedures would be required, and only an incision at the neck would be made to remove the node where cancer had spread. 

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The operation was successful and Roshan Sr was back home in two days. The filmmaker credited his fit lifestyle for being able to go to the office soon. But that was not all, what followed was a test of his strength, both mental and physical. Rakesh Roshan revealed that he underwent three cycles of chemotherapy and 45 days of radiation that made him extremely weak, giddy and resulted in him having mood swings. In fact, he was not able to drink water as well due to it being throat cancer. Despite that, the Krish maker said he tried to face the situation positively by visiting the office to avoid negative thoughts, or convincing himself that this was only a part of the process, that it will pass soon. 

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Rakesh Roshan stated that cancer might sound ‘scary’, but it can be healed, and the fact that he never lost hope, helped him in his recovery. He also credited his daughter Sunaina for supporting him, and how her positivity when she was suffering from cancer helped him too. The director added that apart from the father-duo's battle with cancer, Hrithik Roshan’s brain surgery, his wife Pinky’s heart ailment and him even being shot at, the family went through a lot, but their support for each other helped the family remain strong. 

Back in style 

Rakesh Roshan recently made his first public appearance during the Durga Puja celebrations. He will now resume work soon. He will direct Hrithik in Krrish 4. 

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