Actor and writer Piyush Mishra has openly spoken about his long struggle with alcoholism and how it affected different parts of his life. In a recent conversation on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, he described addiction as a serious and dangerous condition that people often fail to recognise in themselves.
He explained how alcohol dependency slowly grows over time. “At one point, you start feeling that drinking alcohol is necessary. Its effect is such that a person wants to drink more. Alcoholism is a deadly disease, and even an alcoholic doesn’t realise that they are one. Even medical science has no cure for alcoholism. There comes a time when, whether you want to or not, you need alcohol, your body craves it. I have felt this myself.”
Piyush also made it clear that despite his struggle, he never drank while working. “I have never acted after drinking, nor have I ever gone to a set drunk. It did affect my life I had an alcoholic mind. While singing ‘Husna’, I had an alcoholic mind while working on Gulaal, I had an alcoholic mind but I did not consume alcohol at that time. I used to drink because of physical craving, and you cannot suppress that craving.”
He spoke honestly about how alcohol changed his behaviour. “After drinking, I did many things that later made me feel, ‘This is not me.’ I had issues with my mother, and I said many hurtful things to her while drunk even after I had realised I should forgive her.”
He also admitted to losing control at times. “I made many inappropriate and obscene phone calls to women, and the next morning I wouldn’t even remember them At that time, I was not in control of myself. I was doing things I didn’t want to do.”
His professional life was also affected. People started finding him difficult to work with, and it began impacting his career.
A major turning point came in 2009 when he suffered a brain stroke. After this, he started taking steps to control his habits. He said he still drinks occasionally but has reduced it significantly with the help of spiritual practices like Vipassana.
He also spoke earlier about how alcohol does not improve creativity. Instead, it made things worse for him. Today, he continues to manage his condition and stay in control.