Comedian and actor Kapil Sharma opened about battling alcoholism, which contributed to his depression and anxiety. He said that there was a period when he wouldn’t want to leave his house and go to work. It was during this time that Kapil developed an unfavourable reputation in the industry, as someone whose flaky behaviour would often lead to shoots getting delayed.
In an interview with AajTak, Kapil was asked if any of the big movie stars who appeared as guests on his show took offence when he failed to show up, or kept them waiting. Kapil admitted that his mental health led to disruptions in work, but said that this nobody took offence. He recalled how Shah Rukh Khan reacted when Kapil cancelled a shoot with him at the last moment.
He said in Hindi, “When you’re drunk, you’re confident, but when you’re sober, the reality hits you. My fault is that I used to drink to make myself feel better.” Kapil recalled when he cancelled an event that he had paid lakhs of rupees for, because he was not in a state to go through with it. He was asked if movie personalities got angry when he did this to them.
Kapil said, “Nobody got angry. The format of my show is such that I cannot be late even if I tried. We have to shoot multiple segments throughout the day… But yes, there were times when I backed out at the last moment because I didn’t think I could go through with it… When Shah Rukh Khan’s shoot got cancelled, he met me three or four days later. He had come to the same studio for something. Maybe, as an artist, he understood what was happening. He is a superstar, after all, and he has seen everything in this industry. He called me to his car, we sat for an hour, and talked. He asked me, ‘Drugs leta hai?‘. I told him I don’t take drugs, but I no longer feel like working. He told me some very nice things, counselled me. But this is one of those situations that you can’t improve unless you yourself want to.”
Kapil said that he emerged out of depression after nearly two years, when his wife forced him to travel with her to Europe, where he was reminded what living like a regular person used to be. Kapil subsequently returned to the small screen, and next week, he will star in Zwigato, his first movie in several years.
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