Cinema VinesIndian documentary filmmaker Shaunak Sen is turning the camera inward after a life‑shattering cancer diagnosis, following the acclaim of his Oscar‑nominated film All That Breathes. In a recent interview with AFP, the 39‑year‑old director explained that his new, untitled project began as a coping mechanism, a way to “dissociate or displace the terror” of the news that a routine scan had uncovered a small malignant tumour in his kidney.
Sen said the diagnosis forced him to confront the same environmental hazards that have caused the annual death of hundreds of birds in Delhi’s polluted skies—now, he noted, affecting his own body. He added that oncologists often point to toxins, chemicals and air quality as contributors to rising cancer rates, echoing the environmental themes that run through his earlier work.
While his previous film followed two brothers who run a self‑funded clinic for birds harmed by Delhi’s air, the new documentary will focus on the doctor who treated him, rather than on Sen himself. “I did not want to make something that was solipsistically inwards folding,” he said. He praised surgeons for their ability to “completely lose yourself, to be immersed in the absolute present,” describing that experience as meditative and contemplative.
Sen also highlighted his deep connection to New Delhi, the city where he grew up, studied and produced all his work. He described the metropolis as a “wallpaper” for his film, a backdrop that frames both his personal story and the broader environmental crisis.
In January 2025, Sen revealed his cancer diagnosis on Instagram, sharing images of himself in a hospital bed and photos of friends such as Mira Nair and Tillotama Shome visiting him. He wrote, “During a checkup for an autoimmune thing, I got a shock diagnosis: a routine scan revealed a small malignant tumour in the kidney. Utter bolt from the blue. No kidney‑related symptoms, no hereditary history, no big history of drinking/smoking. Urgent surgery was advised.”
