What seemed to be a benign condition turned out to be bladder cancer for director Mahesh Manjrekar. And in August this year, he underwent a surgery. He tells us, “I was undergoing treatment for overactive bladder for one and a half years. But one day, during the shoot of Antim: The Final Truth, I started bleeding. So, I had to get it checked. Turned out I had cancer all the while. I could have saved my bladder if I started treatment for cancer one and a half years ago.”

The actor-filmmaker went through four rounds of chemotherapy for three months, as the shoot for Antim: The Final Truth continued. “Salman (Khan; actor) insisted that I go abroad and get the treatment done. But, I trusted our doctors here. I wasn’t too affected by chemo and thought that I might as well finish the film. I anyway needed three months to recuperate after the surgery,” he shares.

He, however, chose to keep his illness hidden from the public eye. Talking about it, the 63-year-old says, “I had instructed everyone around me to not talk about it. So many people get cancer. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It could also have appeared as if I’m asking for sympathy.”

As for the film, Manjrekar, along with the team, was all set for its digital release. But it was at that point that the announcement to reopen cinemas came about. “We thought that if the film releases digitally, everybody will be safe, because there will be nothing to lose. It wasn’t one of those films for which we weren’t getting buyers. It’s a big-budget film, but the money involved isn’t humongous. But Salman took a stand and said that it should release in theatres,” says the filmmaker.