Javed Akhtar has confessed in the past that he was an alcoholic but he overcame that habit. He hasn’t touched alcohol for many years now. In a recent conversation, Akhtar has compared religion with alcohol. When asked if alcohol is good or bad, he said that too much of anything can be bad. Just little bit of something is not bad but the problem is that people don’t stop at little.He added that while people stop at two glasses of milk, they cannot stop at two glasses of alcohol. He said on Aaj Tak Radio, “Alcohol and religion have a lot in common. The Americans did a survey once, about who lives longer; the person who doesn’t drink or the person who drinks an entire bottle every day. It was discovered that neither have longetivity. Those who live the longest are the ones who strictly have two pegs before their dinner. Medicines have alcohol, how can it be so bad? What’s bad is overconsumption. If a person has two glasses of milk, it’s fine. But if he has two glasses of whiskey, it’s not okay. People never stop at two.”He said further, “Agar aadmi mein thoda sa dharm ho toh aadmi theek rehta hai. Par woh thoda sa nahi rehta hai. Do peg dharm bhi theek hai, do peg daru bhi theek hai lekin woh nahi rehta isiliye usse door rehna padta hai. (If a person has a little bit of religion, he is good, but he isn’t limited to just a bit. Two pegs of religion is also okay. Two pegs of alcohol is also okay. The problem is that a person doesn’t stop at just two pegs, that’s why one has to be away from it).“He had spoken about being an alcoholic during a chat with Arbaaz Khan and said, “Main isliye peeta tha ki main enjoy karta tha (I drank because I enjoyed it), it was a pleasure. I was not drowning any sorrow in it. Magar mujhe ek baat samajh mein aayi, common sense kehta hai ki 52-53 tak mujhe marr jana chahiye, if this is how I drink. Isse upar umar meri jani nahi chahiye with this kind of drinking (But I understood one thing, common sense dictates that with this kind of drinking I would die by 52-53).”
