Shaan opens up about prostate cancer scare in 2020

Bollywood playback singer Shaan, the voice behind chartbusters like Tanha Dil, Musu Musu Hasi, and Chand Sifarish, recently revealed that he had a prostate cancer scare back in 2020, which turned out to be a “false alarm.” The singer shared his personal health experience at the launch of MenCan, an initiative by the Urologic Oncology Disease Management Group (URO DMG) at Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) in Mumbai, aimed at raising awareness about male urologic cancers.
Speaking at the event, Shaan said, “I had a bit of a prostate scare in 2020, which I want to share with you. It almost led to a point where I was told by a few doctors that this could be prostate cancer, but it turned out it was a false alarm.”
Since then, Shaan has been diligent about getting routine medical check-ups. “I’ve been very, very careful in terms of getting my regular tests done. And that is something that I’ve done on a personal level, which again, when I share with my friends, it’s very ticklish, it’s very funny. Therefore, I realised that it’s something that we need to create more awareness about,” he added.
Now the official brand ambassador for the initiative, Shaan is using his platform to help destigmatise conversations around prostate, testicular, and penile cancers. “The word [cancer] itself, people don’t want to use it, like it’s almost like a scary word,” Shaan remarked, highlighting the emotional and social hurdles associated with the disease.

“There is a taboo in the society about openly talking about prostate, testicular or penile cancer. You don’t want to be forthcoming about it. Get yourself checked, get yourself administered because it feels kind of violated, scary. But we have to get over that because at the end of the day, your health, especially a man’s health, is important. If a man is not in his best health, it’s going to affect the family,” the Jab Se Tere Naina singer said.

Shaan concluded by emphasizing the need for open dialogue. “We need to talk about it. We need to bring awareness. And so I’m very happy that though I’m completely a lay person in the medical and scientific world, if I can be of any use, if I’ve been chosen to do this, I’ll do my utmost to support this initiative,” he said.