By Kalash Khurana Last Updated:
Bollywood actress, Sonali Bendre has etched her name in million of hearts with her charming smile, bubbly nature and acting skills. She is popular for her excellent performances in films like Sarfarosh, Hum Saath Saath Hain, Kal Ho Na Ho and many others. However, she has become an inspiration to millions after she had fought with cancer. Now, in an interview, Sonali Bendre talked about making a comeback to the silver screen and spoke about fighting the effects of post-cancer therapy.
For the unversed, in 2018, Sonali had taken a break from the silver screen after being diagnosed with metastatic cancer as she had to undergo treatment for months in New York. However, she had bravely fought the deadly disease and now, she is all set to return to acting after seven years and make her debut in the OTT world with the show, The Broken News.
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In an interview with First Post, Sonali Bendre opened up about her journey after cancer therapy and revealed that she had started forgetting things in her personal life due to brain fog. She also shared that she encountered many challenges while working on the sets after seven years and added that things were very different from her pre-cancer life. In her words:
"Earlier, remembering a page’s dialogue would require me to read it two-three times. So, it wasn’t really a problem for me to remember my lines. Post my cancer therapy, I experienced brain fog and couldn’t remember things as much in my personal life. So, I was worried as to how I’m going to deal with that. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to remember my lines. Acting isn’t like extempore. When I judge reality shows, I simply say what I feel like and I don’t have to remember scripts. That experience is very different. Here, there was a scripted line, a tone and a meaning behind it. It wasn’t Sonali speaking; it was a character who was saying the dialogues."
When Sonali was asked how she dealt with the cancer therapy effects as she was back to the grind, the actress shared that she had used the healing technique, which is used for brain plasticity. She revealed that earlier she used to read the dialogues twice and memorised them, but now, things have changed for her. In her words:
"I used the same technique that I used for healing, that of brain plasticity. I told myself, ‘You’ve the plasticity, and so, you can do it. You just have to rewire it.’ I gradually accepted and acknowledged that I don’t need to know all the lines by heart by reading it just twice. I realised I too need to find a different way to work on my lines. Thankfully, things have changed so much today; the process of working has become more exciting now."
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Further in the interview, Sonali Bendre shared that since she has won her battle against cancer and now that her son has grown up, she's looking forward to work in great films. She revealed that she had become an actor by accident, but now she has got the clarity that she enjoys the creative process of storytelling. She concluded:
"I’m back to work and I’m looking for great scripts, new voices and newer kinds of storytelling. I’ve taken a long time to come back. My son has grown up and I have the time which I can dedicate to my work. What recovering from a life-threatening illness has done is given me clarity. I don’t enjoy anything else as much as I enjoy the creative process of storytelling, be it in front of or behind the camera. I became an actor by accident. I needed the money, and that was the driving force earlier. Now, the driving force includes the people I meet and interact with and the stories I hear and finding my voice in them."
On the work front, Sonali Bendre was last seen in the television series, Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye.
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