"I decided to be open about it."
Pooja Bhatt spoke about her previous battle with alcoholism and revealed that when she quit, she did not cover it up.
The filmmaker and actress explained that she wanted people to know that it was something that could “happen to anyone”.
Pooja went on to say that women need to be “more open about that”.
In an interview, Pooja spoke about her 1989 film Daddy, which presented the theme of alcoholism.
In the film, a woman tries to save her father from being consumed by alcoholism.
Daddy was directed by Pooja’s actual father Mahesh Bhatt while Anupam Kher played the father.
Pooja explained: “We try to cover up many things.
“But four years ago when I decided to quit drinking, I decided to be open about it.
“I began my career with a film like Daddy, which was about a young girl getting her father who’s an alcoholic to stop drinking.
“And there I was dealing with the same problem.
“I reached out to people to let them know that it’s something that could happen to anyone.
“Women especially need to be a little bit more open about that.
“And I was overwhelmed by the response that I got from random strangers.”
Pooja Bhatt also opened up about walking away from her marriage and what it means for women.
She said: “No matter what we women achieve in the world, a lot of us come home and our achievements are reduced to ‘Good, you’ve won the Nobel Prize but what’s for dinner?’
“Are you a mother? Are you not? Are you married? Are you not?
“I’ve been asked by so many people why aren’t you getting married again.
“And I tell them that I’ve grown up from thinking ‘and they lived happily ever after’ to ‘and she lived happily ever after’.
“I’ve been there, done that, tried it and recommended it to people too.
“But my life is not incomplete because I choose to live the way I do.”
On July 12, 2021, Pooja celebrated 30 years of Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin which also starred Aamir Khan.
On the longevity of her career, she said:
“All of my work which has sustained and all of my father’s work which has sustained, have been stories which have been dug out from his heart.
“Commercial success is important but think about those songs that are on the charts for six weeks and then you can’t remember that tune after five years.
“You play the songs of Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Aashiqui and Kalank today and it still touches people’s cores.
“If I impress you, you won’t remember that very well but if I move you, you’ll carry that memory for life.”
On the work front, Pooja Bhatt was seen in the web series Bombay Begumsearlier in 2021, which marked her digital debut.
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