Actress-filmmaker Tannishtha Chatterjee, best known for her role in Brick Lane (2007), has been diagnosed with stage 4 oligo metastatic cancer, she said on Sunday.

Tannishtha opened up about her health in an Instagram post, revealing that she was diagnosed with cancer eight months ago.

Describing this phase of her life as one of “love and strength”, the 44-year-old actress wrote, “It can’t get worse than this. A 70yr old mother and 9 year old daughter .. both totally dependent on me. But in the darkest moments, I discovered an extraordinary kind of love, the kind that shows up, holds space, and never lets you feel alone.”

Tannishtha expressed how the past eight months have been incredibly difficult for her, especially after losing her father to cancer. She shared that despite the hardships, the love and support from her family and close friends gave her strength. Their care brought genuine smiles even on her toughest days.

Emphasising the importance of real human compassion, she added, “In a world racing towards AI and robots, it’s the irreplaceable compassion of real, passionate humans that is saving me. It is their empathy, their messages, their presence – their humanity – that is bringing life back.”

“Cheers to female friendships, the sisterhood that showed up for me with fierce love, deep empathy, and unstoppable strength. You know who you are – and I am endlessly grateful,” Tannishtha signed off.

The first photo in the carousel shows a recent picture of Tannishtha, while another captures a nostalgic moment with friends including Shabana Azmi, Dia Mirza, Konkona Sensharma, Vidya Balan and Divya Dutta.

Reacting to the post, Konkona Sensharma wrote, “You are just incredible and inspiring!! Love you.” Dia Mirza commented, “We love you Tan Tan. You are our very own warrior princess.”

Industry friends Ali Fazal, Abhay Deol, Sharib Hashmi, Swanand Kirkire, Sutapa Sikdar also expressed their love and support to Tannishtha.

Tannishtha’s notable works include Florian Gallenberger’s Shadows of Time (2004), 2011 movie Dekh Indian Circus (for which she won a National Film Award – Special Jury Award), Dev Benegal’s 2009 film Road, Movie and Anant Mahadevan’s 2016 drama Doctor Rakhmabai.

Tannishtha made her directorial debut with Roam Rome Mein, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.

On the work front, Tannishtha was most recently seen in Amazon MX Player’s series Bindiya Ke Bahubali.