Sushmita Sen reveals why she refused anaesthesia during heart surgery; says, ‘I told the doctors to hurry’

Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen suffered a severe heart attack during the shooting of Aarya in 2023. Speaking with Divya Jain, she revealed that she refused anaesthesia because the thought of being unaware during the stent surgery during the operation made her deeply uneasy.

Sushmita said that the sudden collapse had shaken her sense of trust in her own body, and remaining awake felt like a way of reclaiming control. “I didn’t want to be sedated. I needed to see what was happening,” she shared. Sushmita had 95% arterial blockage and hence required immediate stent placement.

She added that the idea of disconnecting from the process was more frightening to her than the surgery itself. Even while doctors worked on her heart, Sen remained fully alert. She admitted she kept urging the medical team to move faster because her mind was fixed on returning to work. At the time, her entire crew was waiting in Jaipur for her to resume shooting. As the lead of Aarya, she felt a deep responsibility toward the hundreds of workers whose daily wages and schedules depended on the shoot continuing.

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“I went through that and kept chatting with doctors, asking them to hurry up, because I wanted to go back on set. My entire crew was waiting in Jaipur,” she said.

Although her team repeatedly urged her to rest, Sushmita insisted on returning as soon as she felt stable. It ultimately took over two weeks of conversations before she was cleared to resume filming.

The third season of Aarya premiered on Jio Hotstar in November 2023, with its second part arriving in February 2024.