Shekhar Suman recalls son Aayush's last words and his wife's plea to doctors

Shekhar Suman has spoken about losing his 11-year-old son Aayush to a terminal illness. He recalled the boy's final words and the moment his wife, Alka, asked the doctors to let their child go.

The actor said the diagnosis came when he had no work at all. He was hoping for film offers, but most of the calls were for television serials, which he did not want to do. Director Anand Mahendroo finally talked him into joining Dekh Bhai Dekh, the sitcom produced by Jaya Bachchan.

Working on a comedy while his son was dying was hard. A telephone was kept on the set so his family could reach him. Shekhar said his heart pounded every time it rang, and after each call he went back to shoot light-hearted scenes.

In his last days, Aayush began reciting Sanskrit shlokas. Shekhar said the boy spoke of seeing a golden light, held his hand and pleaded, "Papa, I don't want to go. Please save me." He then told everyone in the room, the family driver included, that he loved them.

As the child's pain grew worse, Alka pleaded with the doctors to let him go. Shekhar first wanted to keep fighting. He now says she was right, because neither of them could bear to watch their son suffer.

Once Aayush was gone, money and fame stopped mattering to him, and he kept working only to support the rest of his family. Even now, he said, the family spends two to three hours every day thinking and talking about Aayush. He called it a wound that will never heal.