The 63-year-old cancer crusader was diagnosed with the deadly disease during the making of the film. In a heart-to-heart chat with IANS, Manjrekar said: "I don't know why I just accepted it. Somewhere I never thought it was cancer I thought it was overactive bladder because they have the same symptoms. I was the under the impression (of that). I was taking medicine for an overactive bladder for more than a year. Then it was not going." Manjrekar, who is known for making acclaimed films such as 'Vaastav: The Reality' and National Award-winning movie 'Astitva', said that chemotherapy sessions, which he took during the shoot, did not affect him as he was prepared "mentally". "When I went to the hospital for a cystoscopy so before the results were out somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I kind of had the diagnosis in me. I was prepared for it. So, it was not too much of a problem and by God's grace when I went through the chemotherapy sessions it didn't affect me as badly as it affects a lot of people maybe because mentally I was prepared for it and it did not come as a shock to me."Manjrekar had a positive outlook and said: "I was prepared for it... I said I would get through it."Shooting a big film with a vast set up and battling the disease did not take a toll on Manjrekar. "Because I was prepared mentally... The chemotherapy was happening every 15 days... Some how I was fine with the chemotherapy."He added: "It was after the first cycle I started losing hair and what I did was when I started losing hair I just shaved... because I was like 'let me not go through the trauma of looking into the mirror and see' and I did not give it much thought and I decided that I would finish the shoot and then go for surgery because it needed a lot of time for recovery." "Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I will survive." 'Antim: The Final Truth' will be released in theatres worldwide on November 26. (Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)
--IANS dc/kr
(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)
