Fatima Sana Shaikh Recalls How Aamir Khan And Sanya Malhotra Helped With Her Seizure On Dangal Set

New Delhi:

Fatima Sana Shaikh, who debuted with Dangal in 2016, has time and again spoken openly about her battle with epilepsy, a neurological disorder. Recently, she opened up about experiencing a seizure on the Dangal set and how Aamir Khan, Sanya Malhotra, and their trainer, who were on set, helped figure out a solution when no one knew what was happening.

What's Happening

• On Soha Ali Khan's All About Her podcast, Fatima Sana Shaikh revealed, "Then I was training. Woh time pe kya hota tha naa, mujhe auras aate the. Par mujhe nahi maalum tha ki auras kya hote hain. So basically, there is like this light that is just hovering here on this side, largely like it's always on the right side. And dheere dheere badti jaati hai, badti jaati hai, badti jaati hai, and it just takes over. So now there is fear, that this thing is there, kab yeh mujhe leke jaayega and I'm out of it, I have no idea. Sometimes it's there and it goes away. So in Dangal, a few times this happened jahan mujhe aaya aura and then it passed."
• She continued, "And while you were shooting and I was training, and it came, and I was like 'Nahi, nahi, kuchh nahi, ho jaayega'. And then badhta gaya, badhta gaya. Jo bhi mere aas paas tha maine bola mujhe seizure aane waala hai. Kisi ko pata hi nahi kya hai. Mujhe bhi nahi pata kya hai. And luckily Aamir (Khan) tha aur Sanya (Malhotra) thi, Kripa Shankar Bishnoi jo humein train kar rahe the, woh the... and futafut Google kiya, unko answers mile, unn logo ne side pe rakha, jo bhi hua. And then eventually I think as a production house, they took it upon themselves ki we have to figure out what this is because a lot was riding on me, the whole film."
• Furthermore, the actress revealed, "They took me to a doctor, they did all the MRIs, they did EEG, sab kuch, they took me to a certain doctor, neurologist in Bombay at that time, he put me on medication. It was a medication that was just too much for me. Aisa lagta tha that I'm under the influence. So I couldn't walk straight, everything was wonky, I was feeling very depressive and angry, I was all the time very angry, and sad, I felt very alienated. Then I stopped taking medication. So I started medication, I was feeling all of this and I was like 'I can't function, I have to wrestle'.
• "And then I decided ki nahi, main nahi lungi. Kisi ko bina bataye maine chhod diya. Because chhoda, I would get a seizure. But I was so scared that anybody would see me getting a seizure, that whenever I would get auras I would go to the bathroom, I would lock myself, I would put myself on the side, hoping that it comes and it goes and nobody would come to know. But eventually it went on for a good 4 years," concluded Fatima Sana Shaikh.

On Her Earliest Memory Of Having A Seizure

Fatima Sana Shaikh also spoke at length about her earliest memory of having a seizure. She mentioned how she does not remember a lot, just that there was a lot of fear and she passed out a lot and then ended up in a hospital.

The Gustaakh Ishq actress said, "And one of the times it had happened was when I was in a dance class. I was dancing and I passed out, I was getting a seizure, one of the girls kept her hand (in Fatima's mouth), then I bit her, because, bolte hain naa 'chamach daalo, yeh daalo', toh bechari ne apna haath daal diya pagal jaise. Toh I bit on her, apparently, and she was bleeding, and God knows what happened with her. They took me to the hospital and I woke up in a hospital."

She continued, "So I was in a dance class, no memory, and I'm here and 10 people are looking at me from the top. I was disoriented, I don't see familiar faces, I don't know where I am, and why am I here. I started crying. And later on the doctor said, I don't know why he said that, 'Oh, this is for attention.' They told my parents. 'And maybe kuchh drug use hoga'. The doctor said. He was also unaware."

On the work front, Fatima Sana Shaikh was last seen in Gustaakh Ishq alongside Vijay Varma.