‘I am just grateful that I am back’: Sonali Bendre on battling cancer

After years of battling cancer and recuperating from its life-altering effects, Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre is set to return to work as a judge on ‘DID Li’l Masters’, a reality television dance show. In an interview with Pinkvilla, Bendre shared her cancer ordeal and her comeback in the entertainment industry. 

“I am just grateful that I am back, grateful that I can see my child grow up, and grateful that I can be here for my parents, just all those things. I am grateful for so much. And yes, not just back, but back in a way where you are healthy enough to go and sit on a set and work for 12 to 18 hours, now that is really being back. Any other way of being back would be so wishy-washy and wouldn’t be so much fun,” she said. 

Speaking about the emotional support she gets from Goldie Behl, her husband and a filmmaker, Bendre told Pinkvilla that Behl urged her to “get back to work.”

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“He has been asking me to do this much earlier. He is like, ‘you are fine, your brain is so sharp, just get back’. He has been telling me, ‘you should get back to work,” she added. 

In 2018, Sonali Bendre was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and moved to New York for treatment. After recuperating, the 47-year-old actor returned to India but did not return to the big screen. 

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Bendre made her Bollywood debut with ‘Naraaz’, a 1994 action film starring Mithun Chakraborty, Pooja Bhatt and Gulshan Grover. 

She went on to feature in several blockbuster hits including ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, ‘Sarfarosh’ and ‘Diljale’. 

The actor has appeared as a judge in multiple reality shows including ‘India’s Best Dramebaaz’, ‘India’s Got Talent’, and ‘Hindustan ke Hunarbaaz’.