Javed Akhtar Talks About His Long Phase of Alcoholism With ‘Sense of Humour’, Lauded

Javed Akhtar opened up about his struggles with alcoholism in a chat with Chetan Bhagat for an ‘Uncut’ interview and his cheerful honesty about the matter has been winning hearts. The following article may be triggering for some readers.

In a straightforward and humourous manner, Akhtar spoke about the times when he would be drinking one bottle a day. Amid laughs and applause from the audience, he elaborated on how, when he was in his forties, he realised that he wouldn’t make it too far past fifty if he kept up his drinking habit.

Akhtar also spoke about how he quit alcohol cold turkey, without facing any withdrawals or other hurdles. He added that he drank purely for pleasure and not to cope with any kind of trauma.

“Only someone like Javed Akhtar could recount their long phase of alcoholism with such sense of humor,” a Twitter user pointed out, sharing a clip from the interview.

Akhtar has recently courted some controversy over his comments about the 26/11 terror attacks. During an event in Lahore, when a journalist asked him to tell people in India that Pakistan is ‘a positive, friendly and loving country’, Akhtar had said, “Jo garam hai fiza, woh kam honi chahiye. Hum toh Bambaiye log hain. Hamne dekha wahan kaise hamla hua tha. Wo log Norway se toh nahi aaye the naa Egypt se aaye the, wo log abhi bhi aapke mulk me ghum rahe hain. Toh ye shikayat agar Hindustani ke dil me ho toh aapko bura nahi manna chahiye (The atmosphere needs to cool down. I am from Bombay and all of us witnessed the attack on Bombay. The attackers weren’t from Norway, or from Egypt. They are still present in your country, so you should not be offended if an Indian complains about this).”

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