Nikki Tamboli, well-known for her reality show appearances and recent stint on Celebrity MasterChef, opened up about one of the darkest chapters of her life. In a candid conversation, the actress revisited a time when her entire family was battling severe health issues. It was a phase she described as “horrible” and one she wishes no one ever faces.
The actress, who had been actively working in the South Indian film industry at the time, revealed how her earnings became the lifeline for her family’s survival. Nikki recalled being stationed in Chennai when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. “Cancer was detected in my mom. She was in the second stage. In the South industry, they pay you very well, so I had money. Mom was admitted immediately, and Papa had a hernia problem,” she shared.
As if one crisis wasn’t enough, her father and brother too faced serious health scares. Nikki described how her father, who had spent his life working on large farmlands, developed a hernia from years of heavy physical labor. Around the same time, her brother needed a hip replacement. It was a storm of sickness that hit them all together. She recalled running between hospitals daily, saying, “I used to come from shoots and keep my bag. Then I used to go to my mother, my father, and then my brother.”
Maintaining a positive environment at home was a deliberate choice, she explained. Despite the diagnosis, they ensured that despair never took over their household. “Not only medicines, I feel if my mom is out of cancer is because of my dad, my brother, and my positivity. At home, we never made an environment that mom is diagnosed with cancer,” Nikki said.
Financially, she was the backbone during those days. Her work in South Indian cinema came to her aid. Nikki credited actor-director Raghava Lawrence for offering her a significant project that helped her stay afloat. “By god’s grace, Raghava Lawrence sir signed me for the second film in Rs 10 lakh and I had did two films before that, so I had advance of that also. I was earning,” she recalled. That financial security proved crucial, especially since her father didn’t have to break his fixed deposits and her brother could continue working without added pressure.
Speaking about her mother’s chemotherapy, Nikki didn’t shy away from describing the agony her mother endured. “I remember my mother used to cry after chemotherapy. I don’t even want to remember because chemo is the most painful thing,” she said.
She vividly recalled one particular ordeal. “I remember my mother used to ask us to blow air from the blow dryer on her legs because she used to feel extremely cold. When we used to blow the air with the blow dryer, mom used to shout. We used to think that she is getting burned with the blow dryer, but rather she used to ask us to use more blow dryer,” Nikki shared.
The family’s resilience stemmed from their roots. Her mother, hailing from an army background, had an unbreakable will. Nikki mentioned how the four of them rarely slept, taking turns caring for one another, and often sat together to discuss their future despite the chaos around them.
During the lockdown, challenges didn’t stop. Nikki’s father faced an infection linked to his hernia surgery, which required further treatment. “Somehow everything happened,” she concluded, reflecting on how they managed to emerge from that long tunnel of uncertainty and pain.
