Even as actress Priyanka Chopra continues her climb to the higher echelons of the success ladder, her personal life has braked suddenly -- her father Ashok Chopra was suddenly diagnosed with a malignant tumour and had to undergo emergency surgery.

Recalling the nightmarish experience, Priyanka said: "It all seems so unreal. Lately my dad has been stressing himself a lot over my career. Last week, we took him for a routine check-up to the hospital. They suddenly discovered a malignant tumour in his liver.

"Within hours he had been admitted and extensive and complicated emergency surgery had been performed. The worst is thankfully over. But for three days my mother, brother and I went through hell."

Though her father is in the intensive care unit, he's recuperating fast and should be out of hospital in the next two weeks.

Priyanka has no choice but to get back to work.

"I'm back to shooting for Rumi Jaffrey's comedy with Salman. And it feels so strange and scary. When I look back on those three days I can't help wondering about how strange life is. I mean, when we took my father for a check-up we had no clue about what was in store. He had absolutely no physical complication, no pain, no symptom of the grave disease... Just makes you more grateful for the gift of life."

Thankfully Priyanka's airtight schedule hasn't suffered much. "I just have to cancel a short holiday I had planned for myself that's all. Considering how serious the situation was, I think we have a lot to be grateful for."