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3 min readMumbaiFeb 8, 2026 07:30 PM IST
Vinod Khanna was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001.
Legendary actor and politician Vinod Khanna breathed his last in April 2017. While he died of bladder cancer, a little known fact is that he was also diagnosed with lung cancer back in 2001, which he reportedly overcame after undertaking weeks of breathwork and meditation. His wife Kavita Khanna has revealed the details of Vinod’s cancer journey in the first video of her new YouTube channel.
“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,” recalled Kavita. They were told half of his lung would be removed, but life would go on as usual.
Kavita and Vinod Khanna kept the diagnosis to themselves, and only consulted spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar before going in for surgery. “Gurudev,” as they’d address him, suggested they should consult the head of oncology at AIIMS Delhi whether they can wait for a month or two and focus on breath work instead. Once the head of oncology approved, Gurudev directed Vinod to visit the Rishikesh ashram and do the sudarshan kriya there three times a day.
“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! We came back via London, they saw all the reports, and couldn’t accept there’s been a complete cure. They just thought reports get mixed up in India,” recalled Kavita.
While the lung cancer was cured completely, a new cancer was diagnosed in the bladder in 2010. “The prognosis is if he did everything that allopathy had to offer, there was a 25% chance he’d be alive after two years. 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.’ So, Gurudev asked him to come to the ashram and do the panchkarma. In two years from he was first diagnosed, the cancer was gone. We did the scans in America, and it was gone,” Kavita Khanna revealed.
However, once Kavita called up Gurudev to inform him of the same, his response was rather stoic. He warned Vinod Khanna to quit drinking since the actor would consume one or two glasses of alcohol every evening. “A year later, he thought it’s completely behind me now. He was still in very good health, but it started declining. He finally died of bladder cancer,” said Kavita. Her recent account reveals that as much as Vinod is known for his spiritual surrender to Osho, it was also Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who played a key role in his life, particularly in the final days.
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