Sanjay Dutt opens up about cancer diagnosis, says he kept ignoring persistent backache for days

Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt recently opened up about his cancer journey.
In August 2020, the 'Munna Bhai MBBS' star was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Months later, he announced that he was cancer-free.

When the 63-year-old first found out he had the Big C, he revealed that he was all alone in the hospital. His wife Manyata was in Dubai, where the entire Dutt family has been living for years now. He said his sister Priya Dutt, who is a politician and an activist, rushed to him.

His first reaction to the devastating news was - "I don't want any treatment" - according to an ETimes report.

Dutt has lost close family members to cancer. "I have a history of cancer in my family. My mom (Nargis) died of pancreatic cancer, and my late wife (Richa Sharma) died of brain cancer. So, the first thing I said was, I don't want to take chemotherapy. If I'm supposed to die, I will just die, but I don't want any treatment," the actor spoke on the sidelines of an event at a hospital. He was with his sister and Dr Sewanti Limaye, who treated him.

Dutt shared that he didn't realise persistent backache was linked to cancer. He said that he continued to treat it with hot water bottles and painkillers, until one day he couldn't breathe. "I was taken to the hospital, but the cancer news was not broken to me properly. My wife, my family or my sisters, nobody was around me at that time. I was all alone and suddenly this guy comes and tells me 'you have cancer'," he added.

After his diagnosis, director-actor Rakesh Roshan recommended Dr Sewanti Limaye for further treatment. He knew it was his time to put on a brave face and get stronger. "I saw my family break down around me. If I fall sick or if I break down, they will fall sick and break down. So, I decided to fight it," he said.

A pipe was put down the actor's chest, but he challenged his doctor that it will come out in two weeks. Dutt's spirit helped him fight the disease and recover faster.

Dr Limaye revealed that Dutt worked out for two hours every day despite having a complete dosage of chemotherapy pumped into him. Dutt had also requested his doctor to allow him to travel to shoot. "He was hanging upside down on a harness for six hours, right after chemotherapy," Limaye said.

Dutt shared that he didn't want to hide anything from the world. "I didn't want to lie about cancer. People don't want to make it public and not tell people due to many factors. But I chose to speak about it, at the cost of my career so that I could help people in need," he said.

Last week, Dutt took to Instagram to share a picture of him working out in the gym.

"It's the mind that believes and the body that achieves," he captioned the post alongside a picture of him lifting a dumbbell. He also used a hashtag for the post - #DuttsTheWay.

Dutt fitness post left netizens in awe and the picture got more than 585K likes.

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A post shared by Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay)

The 'KGF: Chapter 2' actor was last seen in 'Shamshera' alongside Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor.

On the work front, the 'Shamshera' star will be next seen in his home production sci-fi horror-comedy 'The Virgin Tree', which also stars Sunny Singh, Mouni Roy, and Palak Tiwari in important roles.

Dutt will be producing the movie with Deepak Mukut. The film will be helmed by a new director Sidhaant Sachdev. The official release date of the film is still awaited.