Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai actor Tannaz Irani on health issues that left her in a wheelchair: ‘After surgery, my leg is longer than the other’

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“So, I went to check my back, I thought there was something wrong with my back and I did the treatment for about three months. My back got better, but I still couldn’t put my weight on my leg. Then I started to limp too in a very strange way: I would take my leg out and put it back in (while walking). That was the movement that I recognized so quickly that one could sense that something was wrong. That made it worse. However, being an actor, I didn’t want to give up,” Tannaz shared, adding that, despite his usual “carefree” attitude, he soon realized that the problem was more serious.

Then I had to get several MRIs because my knees started to weaken from the abnormal movement. By then, everything in my body was broken: ankles, knees and back. At the same time, I also had scoliosis. I took MRIs, CT scans and everything. But they just said, maybe I have AVN. In fact people who are alcoholics or who take a lot of steroids get it. I am also not an alcoholic or a steroid user. So, they were also surprised. So, I became very depressed. When I was limping, I started using a cane and I didn’t see myself having one,” he said, recalling how his children encouraged him to avoid using a cane in public, promise to catch him instead.

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Tannaz also recounted a time on vacation in another country where she had to rely on a wheelchair. “When I was on vacation in another country, my girlfriends wanted me to have fun and go out. They did not understand the gravity of the situation at that time. So, I went on this vacation in a wheelchair. Every time we went out in the evening, I would just crawl back to my room in excruciating pain. I was always using painkillers,” he shared, adding that he knocked on many doors, including that of various doctors, trying to find comfort.

Finally, Tannaz Irani underwent hip surgery. “After the operation, on day zero, when they stopped me, I noticed that one leg was longer than the other and I was completely confused. I shouted, not out loud, but from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t believe, all my life, I have to go like this. I felt like this was a cruel joke that someone was playing on me. I didn’t even want to live anymore,” he added.