Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Nov 16: Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen has opened up about the terrifying near-death experience she faced last year while shooting for the third season of her web series Aarya in Jaipur. The actress suffered a severe heart attack caused by a shocking 95% blockage in a major artery, requiring an urgent angioplasty — a procedure she remarkably chose to undergo fully conscious, refusing anesthesia.

In a heartfelt conversation with Divya Jain on a podcast, the 48-year-old actress recounted how the incident changed her perspective on life.

“When you suffer a heart attack and stay conscious through it, you know exactly how close you came to the other side of life,” Sushmita said. “Once you cross that, you also know how far behind it is now. Everything in life is transient — even a heart attack.”

Balancing her demanding professional commitments, personal life, and responsibilities as a single mother to two daughters, Sushmita said she has learned only one thing over the years — “to keep going.”

Recalling the surgery, Sushmita revealed that she surprised her doctors by insisting on staying completely awake through the angioplasty.

“The control freak in me doesn’t like losing consciousness,” she laughed. “I told my doctors not to sedate me. I wanted to be fully aware — to see what was happening. I didn’t want the pain numbed, and I kept chatting with them, asking them to hurry up because my entire crew was waiting in Jaipur.”

She believes her decision to remain conscious played a role in helping her survive the heart attack. “It was a choice between staying conscious and fighting it, or slipping into sleep and maybe not waking up,” she said.

The actress also spoke emotionally about her determination to return to work. As the lead actor of Aarya, she was mindful of the hundreds of daily wage workers whose livelihoods depended on the shoot.

“When you headline a show, you take on the responsibility of a 500-member crew,” she said. “They were very worried about me, but I was worried about their daily wages being stuck. Without me, they couldn’t shoot.”

Despite her doctors’ strict objections, Sushmita negotiated for 15 days before finally being allowed to resume filming.

“I had done whatever I had to do to recover, and I just wanted to get back to set,” she said. “It wasn’t just my show — it was the livelihood of so many people.”