Sonali Bendre reflects on balancing motherhood and career: "I really felt that if I brought a child into this world...."

Bollywood is a fast-paced industry in which actresses are expected to work diligently, and some have defied expectations by continuing to shoot during pregnancy. However, questions are often raised about the work culture, and this issue has garnered more attention after Deepika Padukone's exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga's upcoming film 'Spirit'.

Reportedly, Padukone had differences over working hours with the makers, and she wanted an eight-hour shift after the birth of her daughter Dua.Sonali Bendre, one of the popular 90s actresses, who acted in films such as 'Sarfarosh', 'Diljale' and 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', spoke about taking a break from her work due to pregnancy and carrying the responsibility of motherhood. In a conversation with ANI, she said, "I turned into a mother..I

acted till..I was doing a play with Farooq Shaikh..we have lost him..it was called 'Aapki Soniya', which was a sequel to Tumhari Amrita. And I was pregnant at that point of time. Literally at the end of it, I break down and stuff like that. And I remember that about... eight months pregnant at least, because we were sitting and doing it. I would do it. And then, you know, that when I would break down, I would, the baby was giving me these kicks and there was so much happening.

And I'm like, am I scarring this child? I don't know what is happening, but yeah. So till then I did this. So I kept working till I literally delivered the child."Citing the reason for taking breaks, she said, "The breaks were... when I was bringing up the child. And I really felt that if I brought a child into this world, I needed to give it the time. And I enjoyed that tremendously. That was a role that I was playing. And I think I did take a break from fiction.

But I was doing non-fiction because non-fiction for me in my business or line of work is the closest going to a 9 to 5 job where I could, put in, these two days I work and I come back and I could have a pattern.

When you do fiction, then there are outdoors, you're into a role, you're playing a character. Are you getting it back with you? There were multiple things. I really couldn't do justice to it at that point of time. And by then for me, I had also realized that if I do it, what I had done was not what I wanted to do in, in future where fiction was concerned.

I just felt that I was just beginning to understand my craft and I felt that I know I can do better. And for that, I needed better roles also. So I said, you know what, let me focus on this right now and let's figure this out. So that's where the break happened.""The second break that happened was I did, I started with a show and it was called 'Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye'.. I started with it and after that, while I was doing, the cancer diagnosis came through and then the healing process again, It was just about 2017 or something...I

must have done it, " she said.Sonali was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2018. She flew to the United States of America for treatment and was later declared cancer-free.She continued, "I really got back into fiction and I was listening to scripts and I was literally on verge of okaying things that I would start shooting and then this diagnosis happened. And I think, the thing about cancer is the treatment is so harsh, especially when you go through your regular chemotherapy and radiation and all of that.

Those are so harsh, the treatment..your body is just killed from inside. And just to heal from it and get back to doing the work that I do.

Our job is very physical. Not just mental, but very, very physical also. So there is no, I'm not up to it, but the set is standing. The dates are there. You have to go to work. You can't say somebody else take over for me today. So I needed to really heal and then get back to it, which I have done now.""I came back (from abroad) and my healing process has been in India. I did do certain non-fiction again. And then after a certain period of time, when I knew physically I could take it, because you put in so many hours of everyday working for 12 to 16 hours. See, when you're on set, your hour is a 16 to 18 hour day. It's very long hours. Now you have to be able to do that. I started with non-fiction again because then it was like a two day and then you could rest a bit.

So, and then, of course, I got into fiction, two seasons of 'Broken News' and then, now some more things this year, we should have some more things coming out."Meanwhile, on the work front, she made her OTT debut with ZEE5's series, 'Broken News'. In the show, she played the role of a journalist named Amina Qureshi. She made her acting debut with the 1994 film 'Aag', which also starred Govinda, Shilpa Shetty and Shakti Kapoor. Her first big hit was the action romance 'Diljale', which was released in 1996, and later she was also part of movies such as 'Major Saab', 'Sarfarosh', 'Duplicate', Zakhm', 'Chori Chori ', and 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', among others. In 2018, she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment in the USA.After undergoing treatment for months, she finally defeated the disease and came out victorious, and since then, she has been raising awareness about cancer.