World Cancer Day 2026: Indian stars who battled with the deadly disease and emerged stronger

In 2004, Anurag Basu was working on his films, Murder and Saaya, when he started to face some health issues. Later, he was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia, a rare form of blood cancer. The director was told that he has only a few weeks left.

Speaking about the battle, Basu said,”Cancer has taught me a lot of things. I had to stop, listen to my body, heal, and start making changes. In a strange way, it became a time of reckoning. I knew it wasn’t the end of me. I knew I wasn’t going to die. But I also knew, it wasn’t going to be easy.”