Javed Akhtar opens up on quitting drinking; says, “Willpower is nothing. It is the intensity of desire” : Bollywood News

With the release of his most recent talk show, The Invincibles, actor-producer Arbaaz Khan is becoming more well-known. The six-part talk series' guest is Javed Akhtar. He is renowned for being straightforward in life, recently shared his secret to quitting drinking. When probed about his former binge drinking during a conversation with Arbaaz Khan on Bollywood Bubble, the author revealed that he thought he would have had an untimely death if he hadn't controlled his alcoholism.

Javed Akhtar opens up on quitting drinking; says, “Willpower is nothing. It is the intensity of desire”

Javed admitted that he did not drink to drown his grief but rather for enjoyment. He said, “I drank because I enjoyed it. It was a pleasure. I was not drowning any sorrow in it. But I understood one thing; common sense dictates that with this kind of drinking I would die by 52-53.

Javed acknowledged that he drank a large bottle of rum on July 31 and stopped drinking entirely on August 1. He continued by saying that in all those years, he had never even sampled champagne. When Arbaaz praised his resolve, Javed remarked, “Willpower is nothing. It is the intensity of desire.” According to him the biggest addiction is living and there is no bigger addiction than that.

In a 2012 episode of Aamir Khan's Satyameva Jayate, Javed Akhtar talked openly about his battle with drinking. He said, “I started drinking at a very young age of 19. When I came to Bombay (now Mumbai) after completing my graduation I started drinking with friends and later it became a habit. Earlier I didn’t have enough money, but then after my success, money flow was also taken care of. Then came a time when I would drink one bottle a day.”

Helen, Waheeda Rehman, Shatrughan Sinha, and Mahesh Bhatt will all be interviewed on The Invincibles with Arbaaz Khan.

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