Aashiqui actor Anu Aggarwal opens up on life-threatening accident in 1999, says doctors gave her 3 years to live

Anu Aggarwal, who became an overnight sensation with the success of her debut film Aashiqui, opened up on her life-threatening accident in 1999 that left her comatose for nearly a month. She said that even doctors gave up on her but it was yoga that helped her recover.

In an interview with Pinkvilla, Anu said that she began doing yoga to find ‘inner happiness’ and credited it for her recovery. “The accident happened in 1999 and with that, doctors said, ‘She won’t live. She will survive for hardly 3 years.’ But I was certain I could heal. Then everything I had learned, I applied on myself and healed myself. Then, I started yoga therapy for slum kids, and then I was later recognised by other organisations where I gave talks,” she said.

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Though Anu’s first film was a runaway hit, she could not recreate the same success in any of her subsequent films, with the exception of Rakesh Roshan’s King Uncle. She quit acting after a few years; her last release was Return of Jewel Thief in 1996.

Earlier, in an interview with Hindustan Times, Anu said that she has no memories of her car crash that left her in a coma for 29 days. When she regained consciousness, she was half-paralysed. “I didn’t know the meaning of words and languages when I woke up... I didn’t know English; though it came to me faster than Hindi did. I had lost everything. It was like landing up on another planet altogether. I had no knowledge of history, geography or culture. I remembered nothing; there was complete loss of memory,” she had said.

In 2015, Anu penned an autobiography titled Anusual: Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back from the Dead, in which she chronicled her journey from an accidental model to a reluctant actor and her life beyond films.