For generations of Hindi cinema lovers, Vinod Khanna remains frozen in memory – tall, charismatic, effortlessly stylish, and always larger than life. But behind the screen persona was a man who quietly
fought some of the toughest health battles of his life, long before the world knew. Years after his death, his wife Kavita Khanna has now opened up about a lesser-known chapter of the late actor’s journey, revealing that bladder cancer was not his first brush with the disease.
Vinod Khanna passed away in 2017 at the age of 70 after battling bladder cancer. However, in a recent video shared on her YouTube channel, Kavita disclosed that he had first been diagnosed with lung cancer as early as 2001 — a consequence, she said, of years of heavy smoking.
Recalling the diagnosis, Kavita said, “It was 2001 when Vinod had a diagnosis of lung cancer. He’d gone for his annual checkup, and they saw patches in the lungs. He’d smoke 40 to 80 cigarettes a day. We went to the leading MRI specialists of Mumbai, and they all said it was lung cancer.” Doctors, she added, had advised that half of his lung would need to be surgically removed.
The couple chose to keep the diagnosis private and sought spiritual guidance before taking any medical decision. Kavita shared that they turned to their spiritual mentor, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whom they fondly called Gurudev. On his advice, they consulted the head of oncology at AIIMS Delhi to see if surgery could be postponed. With medical clearance, Vinod spent time at the ashram in Rishikesh, practising Sudarshan Kriya multiple times a day.
Kavita recalled a turning point during a visit to Germany. “Later, we went to Germany. One evening, Vinod got this terrible pain somewhere around his shoulder. He was just lying in pain for two days. Then Gurudev came to see how he was, and then suggested we get an X-ray done. There was no broken rib, but the important thing was there’s no cancer. Unbelievable!” she said. She added that doctors in London later struggled to accept the reports, suspecting an error, but confirmed that the lung cancer did not return.
Nearly a decade later, in 2010, Vinod Khanna was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Kavita described the prognosis as grim. “The prognosis was if he did everything that allopathy had to offer, there was a 25% chance he’d be alive after two years,” she said. Vinod, she recalled, chose a different path. “Vinod then called Gurudev and said, ‘I’ve lived a full life. And if my time to go has come, I’m ready to go. But I don’t want to torture my body.’” He underwent panchkarma therapy at the ashram, and Kavita said that within two years, scans showed the cancer had disappeared. “We did the scans in America, and it was gone,” she shared.
Following this, Vinod was advised to give up alcohol. Kavita revealed that he earlier consumed one or two glasses every evening. Despite periods of recovery, his health eventually declined. “He was still in very good health when it started declining. He finally died of bladder cancer,” she said.
Vinod Khanna was one of Hindi cinema’s most iconic stars, remembered for classics such as Mere Apne, Qurbani, Amar Akbar Anthony and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. At the peak of his stardom in 1982, he shocked the industry by stepping away from films to follow spiritual leader Osho Rajneesh. He later returned to acting, appearing in films like Wanted, Dabangg and Dilwale.
He was also active in politics and served as a Member of Parliament. Vinod was first married to Geetanjali, with whom he had sons Rahul Khanna and Akshaye Khanna. The couple divorced in 1985. He later married Kavita, and they had two children, Sakshi and Shraddha.
