Rakesh Roshan opens up on his recovery: 'I was 100 percent sure I had cancer before reports came out'

Hrithik Roshan, in January, revealed his father and Hindi filmmaker Rakesh Roshan had been diagnosed with early-stage squamous cell carcinoma (throat cancer), and would undergo surgery. After almost nine months, Rakesh opens up about his health in a recent interview with Mid-Day.

Rakesh confesses it began in September last year, when a minor blister under his tongue got him worried, and he immediately called his family doctor home. When the expert asked him not to worry about it, and gave him certain medicines, the matter was forgotten for the next few months. After some time, Rakesh says he went to visit a friend at the Hinduja Hospital.

Rakesh Roshan. Image via Twitter/@TheSiasatDaily

"On a lark, I headed to the ENT specialist. The first thing he told me was to get a biopsy done. I came home, and told my family that though the reports would come in four days, I was 100 percent sure that I had cancer. They (oncologists and doctors) described traumatic procedures (that involved) cutting my tongue, and taking part off the skin on my wrist to replace the surface on my tongue. Thankfully, Hrithik got in touch with Dr Jatin P Shah (who holds The Elliott W Strong chair at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre), who told us that nothing of the sort was required. He would make an incision on the neck to remove the node where the cancer had spread."

Roshan says the operation procedure apart, the healing would be more of a test of his patience and grit. Crediting his already-fit lifestyle, Roshan says he resumed work merely one day after his operation. He says he was determined not to give in to the physical exhaustion the consequent chemotherapy cycles would have on him.

Roshan says he would insist on going to work because he thought it a much better option than just lying down at home, and feeling more depressed. He was sure isolating himself will lead to more negative thoughts, and hence, socialising and meeting new people, and involving himself in projects was the only way out.