Aishwarya Sakhuja: I thought my career would end with facial paralysis

An actor would go to any lengths to protect his/ her face. Now, imagine their plight when there is a serious threat to it. Aishwarya Sakhuja suffered a severe facial paralysis stroke during the shoot of her TV show 'Main Naa Bhoolungi' (2014). She recounts, “I was unable to even blink as the right side of my face stopped functioning. I would appear to be winking during my scenes and it became difficult to emote a scene.It took almost a month for me to recover and I was put on steroids throughout.”

Fearing that it would be the end of her acting career, Aishwarya recalls, “It was a scary situation. Whatever you had achieved through hard work could be taken away from you instantly. A whole lot of questions would run through my head; what if I didn’t recover from this? What if my face stopped functioning permanently? Nothing is more important to an actor than his face.” She credits her husband Rohit Nag for keeping her sane. Even the unit of the show extended its unconditional support.
Aishwarya believes that she took her character with grey shades in the show so seriously that she started living it. This fact also led to friction between her and co-actor Vikkas Manaktala.

She says, “It took a toll on me emotionally. I started carrying the negativity off screen, too. Vikkas bore the brunt of it. It started affecting our professional equation. I stopped exchanging customary greetings or even acknowledging him. It’s a two-way road and you get what you give. Negativity manifests diseases. I have never disclosed my health issue to anyone. I have refused a lot of negative roles recently, as I don’t want to take them up till
the time I learn to draw a line between reel and real.” We also got in touch with Vikkas, who said, “I am happy if Aishwarya feels that she erred in understanding me. There are no issues from my side.” Aishwarya will soon be seen in Sonali Jaffer’s show, loosely inspired by the Hollywood chick-flick Charlie’s Angels. She will be seen as a spy in the show. What if she takes the new character seriously? “I have no clue about this show. But I would like to play a fun character and live it. My husband feels that I am too serious for my own good.”