After Irrfan Khan left fans worried with his tweet on being diagnosed with a rare disease, now Bollywood script-writer Apurva Asrani has revealed that he has been suffering from restricted movements on his face for the past couple of months.
In a long Facebook post, Asrani has revealed the details of his sufferings, his condition, and the progress.
"Almost two months ago, I woke up with the right side of my face completely paralysed. Fearing a stroke, I was rushed to the hospital, and after an MRI ruled that out, my condition was diagnosed as Bells Palsy—where the facial nerve is inflamed, causing loss of muscle movement.
What causes this is still a mystery, but they gather that it could be a viral infection. Stress is a major factor and god knows I had more than my share of that in 2017.
This condition is reversible, but it could take weeks, months or even years in some cases. Mine was accompanied by severe vertigo, and I couldn't stand without falling over.
After taking antivirals, steroids and doing weeks of physiotherapy and acupuncture, there was still no thaw. One senior neurologist told me to be prepared that if there was nerve damage, I might never recover from this.
Fortunately after a harrowing month, the face finally began to thaw. Everyday there is a little progress, tiny little twitches that promise to grow into something more significant tomorrow. And I wait patiently.
I am certain that in the next few months, there will be significant improvement. But I have to confess that the fear has been indescribable. I have been unable to smile. To shut the right eye. To walk without falling, to eat or even drink water without spillage.
When I walked in the street and people looked at me, there wasn't the warmth that I was used to. My face drooped to one side, one eye wide and unblinking, and my mouth twisted. I realised how blessed I had been to be able to smile, (it really can do wonders for you.)
And I learned so much about my 'life' on social media too. Every time someone saw my carefully shot picture, where I withheld the extent of my condition, they'd say 'why aren't you smiling? or 'what's that weird angle'? or 'how strange your eye looks'?' Many would go on about how not smiling doesn't suit me, and I felt as though I was expected to oblige an 'audience' by baring my teeth."
Read the entire post below:
Last year the National Award writer was embroiled in a controversy over the writing credits of Simran starring Kangana Ranaut. He had accused Kangana for falsely claiming in many interviews that she developed the story of Simran into a light and fun movie from a dark and gritty thriller. Asrani had also blamed Simran director Hansal Mehta for forcing him to co-credit Kangana for the script of the film.
Asrani is best known for his work as the editor for films like Satya (1998), Shahid (2013) and CityLights (2014). He was also the story, screenplay and dialogue writer of the critically acclaimed film Aligarh (2016).
