Sanjay Dutt has lived a life full of dramatic highs and lows, many of which were immortalised in his biopic Sanju. But the actor himself admits that nothing tested him more than the moment he was told he had cancer. Speaking on a podcast with YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, the Vaastav star recalled the terrifying discovery and the emotional storm that followed.
“It was a normal day in the lockdown. When I walked up the stairs, I was totally out of breath. I had a bath, I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t know what was happening, so I called up my doctor,” he shared. An x-ray revealed that more than half of his lungs were covered in water.
Doctors first hoped it was tuberculosis, but further tests confirmed lung cancer.
The actor admitted the news left him shaken. “How to break it to me, it was a big issue. I could have broken somebody’s face. So, my sister came, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got cancer, now what?’ Then you start planning this, we’ll do this and that… But I did cry for two-three hours because I was thinking about my kids and my life and my wife and everything, these flashes come and I said, I am going to stop getting weak.”
Initially, the plan was to fly to the US for treatment, but his visa application was rejected. That’s when his family and close friends stepped in. Among them was filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, who connected Dutt with a trusted doctor in India. “They told me that I’d lose hair and other things would happen, I’d vomit, so I told the doctor ‘mereko kuch nahi hoga’, I’ll not lose hair, I’ll not vomit, I won’t lie on the bed,” he recalled.
Determined to fight, Sanjay combined chemotherapy with an intense focus on fitness. “I did my chemotherapy, and I came back and I sat on that bike for one hour and I cycled, I did that day after day, everyday. After every chemo I did that. It was crazy, I used to go for chemo, Dubai, and then I used to go to the badminton court and play for two-three hours.”
By October 2020, he proudly announced he was cancer-free, crediting his recovery to resilience and family support. Today, after regaining muscle and returning to the gym, Dutt says he wants to bring back “the Sanjay Dutt everyone knew.”
On the work front, his latest film Baaghi 4 released on September 5, 2025, and his next big project, Dhurandhar with Ranveer Singh, hits cinemas this December.
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