Rasika Joshi who essays the role of Motiben in Imagine's Bandini has been waging a personal battle against cancer, for quite a while now. The lady has been suffering from Blood Cancer that requires her to got thro' the process of blood transfusions at regular intervals.

Recently, Rasika's condition worsened which forced her to take a break from the show.

According to our source, "Rasika is a real fighter and has been braving her illness with all confidence. She has been suffering from cancer from the time before Bandini started. However, the lady has always given her best to acting, and has never taken any kind of lenience owing to her illness. Rasika is now in the second stage of cancer, and had to go thro' a series of blood transfusions recently. This was the reason why she was not seen in Bandini, during the marriage sequences of Sarang (Jatin Shah) and Moongi (Abigail Jain)".

"When she was not available to shoot, there were even talks of bringing in a new actor to portray the role of Motiben. But Rasika being the great fighter that she is, decided to get back to Bandini, once she was done with her regular doctor visits", informs our source.

A little birdie from the sets tells us, "Rasika Joshi is back and is shooting for the show. She has gone weak and has lost weight too. However, she is all upbeat of taking the track ahead, and does not like it when anyone enquires about her health".

Kudos to Rasika for putting up a brave front and being optimistic!!

Reporter and Author: Ranjini Nair