Shefali Jariwala is one of the very few actresses who never shies away from calling a spade a spade. She took to social media recently and opened up about her father battling colon cancer. While she had tried to keep this to herself and not shared this news with the media earlier, but after the death stunt pulled off by Poonam Pandey, Shefali Jariwala was deeply impacted, and she couldn’t hold herself back. She steamed out on social media in a long post and slammed Poonam Pandey and the others involved in the such a stunt.

Sharing pics from the hospital with her dad, Shefali Jariwala wrote, “Deeply saddened and hurt how some people can use CANCER for publicity. I cant believe how insensitive people are. I don’t know Poonam Pandey at all , but the fake drama of her demise to cervical cancer deeply affected me (sic).”

The ‘Kanta Laga’ actress then went on to reveal about her father’s battle with cancer. “I felt so scared for my father … The last few months have been difficult as my father has been undergoing treatment for Colon Cancer - stage 3 .Not being able to sleep all of last night and being anxious as f*#k makes this me so angry. In the name to creating awareness pls stop playing with peoples emotions ! Creating awareness on a SM platform is one thing but faking your own death is so low… This is not a joke… cancer is not a joke ! (sic).”

The picture that Shefali Jariwala shared of her father in the hospital was of a few months back. “This Picture is from November 2023 , right after his second surgery this year. Love and strength to all cancer survivors and people battling it! Don’t let this cheap publicity stunt shake you. You guys are warriors ??(sic).”

There is no justification for the stunt that Poonam Pandey pulled off, and calling that as awareness for cervical cancer was just not acceptable. There could have been a billion different ways to create awareness for a deadly disease rather than stooping this low. While I understand that Poonam Pandey wasn’t the only one responsible and there must have been a full PR team associated with it who must have okayed the entire stunt, but she is one who was in the public eye, and that’s why people are blaming her only.

Shefali Jariwala’s anger and that of the millions of people and celebrities who opened up about this stunt’s cheapness is well directed. However good the intentions must have been, pulling off a stunt of this nature feels more like bringing oneself back to the limelight rather than creating the necessary awareness for the deadly disease.