Ludo director Anurag Basu is a cancer survivor. He had finished the shoot of Saaya and Murder, when he was diagnosed with blood cancer. While he was not taking it too seriously, because he could not feel any symptoms, the doctors had told him that he had just two weeks to live. In a recent interview, he has opened up about his battle with cancer, and also revealed that he is thankful to be a part of the entertainment industry because that majorly helped him get timely treatments.
In the latest episode of Unfiltered By Samdish, Anurag Basu opened up about his battle with blood cancer. The director reveals he was getting blisters in his mouth, and doctors had advised for a thorough checkup. However, he kept delaying it and went back for shoot . However, things soon got serious, and doctors had said that he only has two weeks to live. “At that time, Tani (his wife) was 7-month pregnant with Ishana, and she used to struggle in staying close to me. I was pushing myself for 2 months… so that I could see baby’s face. Then after that, I keep pushing myself.”
Basu further added, “I felt fine except for some headache and weakness. I even sneaked out of my hospital room for a beer with Emraan Hashmi and others. But my condition started deteriorating rapidly as no medicine was helping.” But his parents soon stopped meeting him as they could not bear to see him. He said, “My internal organs were bleeding buckets. People kept coming to donate blood.”
He was at Lilavati Hospital for 30 days, after which he was shifted to Tata Hospital. “As soon as I reached Tata Hospital, I was put on ventilator. In fact, I wasn’t able to get a bed there. It was Sunil Dutt who got me one. I feel blessed to be a part of the film industry, that I immediately got a bed and treatment. A common man would have struggled… Whoever knew me from television was doing everything they could, sending messages, asking for blood to save me. I don’t even know who all donated blood and platelets for me, whose blood is running in my veins today!”
Basu added that he needed money for chemotherapy and directed TV shows wearing mask to be able to earn. He also shot Gangster while on chemotherapy.
