Indian actress Mahima Chaudhry made her acting debut with the Bollywood hit Pardes. The doe-eyed beauty stole our hearts at just 24 and also won two Filmfare Awards for her role.

Despite landing in Bollywood with a bang, her career soon fizzled out and she disappeared from screens after her Bengali thriller Chocolate was released in 2016.

Mahima confirmed to Pinkvilla that after her divorce in 2013, she took a hiatus from acting to raise her daughter but that was not all that forced her to stay off the screens.

The Daag star was diagnosed with cancer last year. She asked fellow veteran actor Anupum Kher to break the news of both her cancer and how she was cancer-free now.

Kher put up an Instagram video in which Mahima talks about her cancer journey as well as the uncanny timing of Kher’s call asking her to act in a film he was producing.

“She calls me an eternal optimist but dearest Mahima, you are my hero! Friends, send her your love, warmth, wishes, prayers, and blessings. She is back on sets where she belongs. She is ready to fly. All those producers and directors out there here is your opportunity to tap into her brilliance! Jai ho to her!”

Mahima explained how surviving the Covid-19 pandemic was extra hard in her immuno-compromised condition, where even her daughter did not go to school, so as to not bring the virus back home for Mahima.