All That Breathes director Shaunak Sen reveals cancer diagnosis: ‘The accidental discovery was a blessing in disguise’

Shaunak Sen shared he is glad that it was caught at a very early stage, adding that he is recovering and regaining strength at the moment.

Award-winning filmmaker Shaunak Sen recently faced a health scare when “a small malignant tumour” was detected in his kidney. Now, he has shared that cancer is out of him, saying that the accidental discovery was a blessing in disguise.

Shaunak took to Instagram to talk about the health scare.

Shaunak Sen shares the health update

Shaunak took to Instagram to talk about the health scare. He also shared several pictures of the hospital. One showed him on the hospital bed, and others featured his friends who came to visit him in the hospital, which included director Mira Nair and Tillotama Shome.

“Bit of an absurd update. October end, during a checkup for an autoimmune thing I got a shock diagnosis: a routine scan revealed a small malignant tumor in the kidney. Utter bolt from the blue. No kidney-related symptoms, no hereditary history, no big history of drinking/smoking. Urgent surgery was advised,” Shaunak wrote in the note.

He added, “On the 26th December I had a partial nephrectomy, i.e. a part of my kidney was removed. (it was converted from robotic to an open surgery midway, so there's a dramatic Cronenbergian gash in the belly.) It was successful, the cancer is out of me. The accidental discovery was a blessing in disguise, it was caught very early at a low-grade stage. Recovering since and regaining strength. (Never had a better excuse for all acquaintances complaining about my going awol in recent months - my pujo, diwali, christmas, new years were all in a hospital room. And here's some blurry bad photos of friends who made it all tolerable, alongside the excellent surgeons)”.

About Shaunak

Filmmaker Shaunak gained prominence globally in 2023 with his documentary All That Breathes. The Delhi-set documentary follows two siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially black kites. It was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category at the 95th edition of the Academy Awards. However, it failed to register a win. The critically-acclaimed film had previously won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Eye award for the best documentary at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.