Mahima Chaudhry gets emotional as she opens up about breast cancer diagnosis

Mahima Chaudhry opened up about her battle with breast cancer (Image credit: Screengrab from video uploaded on Instagram by @anupampkher)

Mahima Chaudhry is battling breast cancer. Her diagnosis was revealed in an Instagram post by Anupam Kher, who lauded her courage and optimism. Mahima Chaudhry, best known for her role in the 1997 film Pardes, broke down in conversation with Kher as they discussed her cancer and how it has affected her family and career.

According to the Instagram post, Anupam Kher got to know of Chaudhry’s breast cancer diagnosis when he called her up to offer her a role in his upcoming project, The Signature. “Our conversation turned to her discovering that she has breast cancer. What followed is in this candid conversation between us,” he wrote on Instagram, sharing a video of said conversation.

In the video, Mahima Chaudhry, 48, revealed that she lost hair while undergoing treatment and consequently turned down job offers as she was wary of working with a wig. “I was getting a lot of calls for web series… I was like, why am I getting calls now when I don’t have hair. I didn’t even tell them,” she said. She said she could not turn down Kher’s offer and therefore told him about her cancer diagnosis.

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Chaudhry says she started crying when she heard about her breast cancer diagnosis, even though doctors told her it was “100% treatable.” She did not share the news with her parents, only telling her mother she had a “lump” that needed to be removed. Her mother, she says, had to be hospitalised after hearing that.

Anupam Kher shared the video on Instagram and praised Chaudhry’s attitude. “Her attitude will give hope to so many women all over the world,” he wrote. “Send her your love, warmth, wishes, prayers and blessings. She is BACK on sets where she belongs.”