Courageous star

AWARD-WINNING film star Mamta Mohandas has spoken about her courageous battle against cancer as she celebrates a string of accolades for her big-screen performances.

The Bahrain-born and raised Indian actress is in remission from lymphoma – cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. She was first diagnosed with the condition two years ago and underwent intensive radiation therapy as part of her treatment.

The 26-year-old star recently returned to the kingdom to continue her recuperation and enroll for a course in reiki – an alternative healing technique – with her mother, Ganga, who lives in Sanabis.

The former Indian School Bahrain and Asian School student revealed that she kept her condition secret from fans in a bid to beat the disease without an overflow of sympathy or negative thoughts.

She said: “I was working on a movie while I was fighting it and had to travel between India and Greece.
 
“It was diagnosed in July 2009 and I started my treatment in August in Chennai, India. By January last year, the radiation treatment was over.

“It was stressful but I took everything that came at me in a positive manner – that was the best way to fight it.
 
“Choosing to work during my treatment was one of the best decisions I made and it helped me come out of it beautifully. I used it as a tool to cure myself. I didn’t want anything to change.”

Mamta had to trim her long tresses as hair loss was one of the effects of the treatment but, thanks to the wigs she used for her movies, no one except family members, became curious about her changed appearance. She said: “By the time my hair started to grow back I had already begun to prefer a shorter style and have maintained it.”

Mamta’s introduction to the world of South Indian cinema started in 2005. At the time she was a university student at the Mount Carmel College in Bangalore pursuing a bachelor’s degree in science with majors in computing, mathematics and statistics.

She said: “When I started doing films I wasn’t really interested in them and thought I would soon quit and go to London to pursue a master’s degree in business and follow in the footsteps of my father, who is a banking professional.

However, any thoughts of a career move were quickly shelved once directors from the entire south of India began queuing up for her signature.

During her school days, Mamta was known in the Indian community in Bahrain for her singing prowess and her fascination with classical music, in which she was briefly trained.

Her first song featured in a movie entitled Rakhi Rakhi and was a runaway hit in 2007. She admitted: “During my schooldays I used to want to become a pop star – I really enjoyed being on stage.”

Mamta says she is concentrating on her health and investigating the various therapies available such as reiki – a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is based on the idea that an unseen ‘life force energy’ flows through us and is what causes us to be alive.

Practitioners say that if one’s life force energy is low then you are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, you are more capable of being happy and healthy.

“Cancer is often a battle of the mind. The more you speak about it the lesser the fear and the easier it is to combat,” she said. “I told people to stop the sympathy – nothing comes out of it. I survived and it has inspired me to look at reiki’s therapeutic effect.”

In recent months the actress has also been busy picking up accolades for her movie performances, such as the leading role in the critically-acclaimed Kadha Thudarunnu, a touching story about a single mother, and Anwar, which has a terrorism theme. 

She also received the Kerala State Award for second best actress, Asianet  Most Popular Award, Vanitha Film Award, Filmfare Award as well as Manorama and Mathrubhumi Film Awards.

Although her plans to study in the UK are currently on hold, she has begun developing her business interests in Bahrain. Her investments include a home and a 50 per cent share in a supermarket in Juffair. She said: “I have some other plans in the pipeline including health care.”

Mamta’s father has been a resident here for more than 30 years and the young starlet considers the kingdom as her home. When she is not travelling around the globe for work, she regularly returns to the island to rest and unwind. She said: “My doctor told me that Bahrain is healing for me. I love being here.”