Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal’s father Sham Kaushal, who battled stomach cancer, talked about how he survived. The popular action director, who worked in several films including Dangal and Bajirao Mastani, also revealed that he was having suicidal thoughts

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Sham Kaushal revealed that when he returned from Ladakh in 2003 after completing the shoot for Lakshya, he felt that there is something not right with his stomach. He was admitted to the hospital the very next day after the diagnosis and underwent the surgery. The doctors sent the pieces of his stomach for tests, after this they came out to know that he had cancer.

While speaking to ETimes, he stated, “In September 2003, after I came back from Ladakh after completing the shoot of Lakshya, I started experiencing trouble in my stomach. The shooting of Shyam Benegal's Netaji Subhashchandra Bose was going on and we had an off day for Diwali. I had a lot of pain in my stomach. The next day, I went to Nanavati Hospital for a check-up. I got hospitalized and they had to operate on my stomach. There were many complications. I had been to Nanavati Hospital before with an appendix problem with Nana Patekar. So, the doctors knew me and my condition.”

The action director revealed that he was in hospital for about 50 days. “The doctors called Nana Patekar who was shooting in Pune. Nana ji immediately left from there and came straight to the hospital. 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.”

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Shyam ji further added he decided to suicide after he came to know that there is no chance of survival. He said, "I had signed a film which was supposed to go on floors in November. But I got hospitalized in October. 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.”

In conversation with ETimes, Sham Kaushal further revealed that the next day he called someone from the production team in order to return his signing amount, however, someone from the other side of the phone said ‘sir only you will do this film, we will wait for it.’ And it was Anurag Kashyap on the call. After completing 50 days at hospital, the director resumed the work.