Vicky Kaushal’s father Sham Kaushal recalls battling cancer: ‘Had even decided that I would end my life’

Sham Kaushal, actor Vicky Kaushal’s father and stunt director, has spoken about the time when he was diagnosed with cancer in September 2003. In a new interview, Sham recalled how after returning from Ladakh post shooting Lakshya, he started experiencing pain in his stomach. (Also Read | Sham Kaushal on Veeru Devgan: ‘He fed me when I was walking the streets hungry’)

When he visited the Nanavati Hospital, he underwent an operation and had many complications. Sham had visited the hospital earlier for his appendix problem with actor Nana Patekar. So the doctors called Nana who left his shooting in Pune to visit Sham in the hospital.

In an interview with Times of India, Sham recalled, “I was unconscious. There was an infection in my stomach. The doctors had cut out a piece of the stomach and sent it for tests. It was diagnosed as cancer. I was not sure whether I would survive or not. I have not shared this with anyone. I was in the hospital for 50 days. I came back to work after that. They kept testing me for a year. But luckily, the cancer did not spread. It’s been 19 years since that incident.”

He also spoke about the people who stood by him at that time. Sham remembered signing a film which was scheduled to go on floors in November and he was hospitalised in October. He recalled, “I thought there’s no chance of me surviving. I had even decided that I would end my life by jumping off the third floor because I couldn’t live like that. But I could not get off the bed because my stomach had been operated on. I told God, ‘Please end this. I don’t have any regrets. I came from a small village and by your grace, I lived a good life. If you want to save me, don’t make me weak.’ After that, I was at peace. The next day, I called someone from the production to return the signing amount of the film which was to go on floors in November.”

He revealed that the film was Black Friday and the director was Anurag Kashyap. Sham then spoke about how the film’s director, who was struggling at that time, sent him a message on the phone saying that ‘only you will do this film and we will wait for it’. After he returned from the hospital in December, after 50 days, the first film he did was Black Friday.