Fatima Sana Shaikh, who will next be seen in Metro... In Dino has opened up about her battle with epilepsy. The actress recalled one particularly terrifying episode where she suffered multiple seizures during a flight to the US via Dubai.
Fatima Sana Shaikh, in a conversation with Humans of Bombay, revealed, "I had a major episode when I had multiple seizures. I was travelling to the USA, and it was a flight via Dubai. I had seizures on the flight. Then I was taken to the airport hospital, I was given medication, but even then my seizures didn't stop. They then gave me a very high dose (of medication)."
The episode forced her to cancel the shoot of two of her films, she added.
Fatima Sana Shaikh shared, "I was on different chemicals. I was working on two different films then, and I had to cancel shoots. I couldn't get out of bed and cried when someone called for a shoot. My emotions were all over the place. I was like, ‘This is my reality now'. At that time, I accepted that this is my disease, and people also should know about it as it will help others.”
The 38-year-old also sympathised with children whose daily life get "hampered" due to the ailment.
Fatima Sana Shaikh said, "There are kids who have multiple seizures in a day... It's heartbreaking. They don't get perks that fall under the special needs category in education. I also understood that much later."
She added, "Imagine the ones who are underprivileged. They've no access to education and even to medicines. There's a lot of stigma attached to it (epilepsy). I have some (fan) following, so I can say that if I can use that in some way, then that's completely okay.”
Fatima Sana Shaikh stars in Metro… In Dino, directed by Anurag Basu. The film also features Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Ali Fazal, Anupam Kher, Pankaj Tripathi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Neena Gupta. The film will hit the screens on July 4.
