Veteran actor Dharmendra has always been vocal about his drinking habits. While he has now quit drinking alcohol, his stories from earlier in his career about drinking for crucial film scenes are well-known among movie buffs. His drunk scene from Sholay brought him quite the acclaim, but he was also called the ‘biggest boozer of Bollywood’.
During an earlier appearance on Aap Ki Adalat, the actor revealed that he would steal beers from the cameraman on the sets of Sholay. “Our cameraman, Jim, who was working with us on Sholay, had the habit of carrying 5-6 bottles of beer. I would sit behind him and secretly drink from his stock. When the people from the production told him that he had consumed 12 bottles, baffled, he reacted, ‘How did it happen? I don’t know!’ One day he caught me. You should enjoy life..,” he said. When asked about the tag of being the biggest boozer in Bollywood, he said, “Mera liver bahot strong hai!”
Dharmendra also recalled an incident from the sets of the film Aag Hi Aag, when co-star Moushumi Chatterjee caught him drinking beer. He said, “Beer peene ka dil kiya dopahar ko… I had told them to make the beer frothy so that it looked like lassi.” Moushumi saw him drinking and asked him what he was up to. “’Aye, Dharmendra, yeh kya peeta hai?’ I lied by saying that I was having lassi. She knew I was lying so she asked me, ‘Thodi mujhe bhi dena.’ I burst out laughing and admitted that I was enjoying my beer. “Beer peene se kuch nahi hota,” he said.
When asked why he couldn’t quit drinking, he said, “Beech mein 6 mahine ke liye chor deta tha, badminton khelta aur sweat out karta tha aur phir shuru ho jata hoon. Main thoda extremist hoon,” he shared. As per a 2010 DNA report, the veteran actor quit drinking after a health scare that year. As per the report, he promised his daughter, Esha Deol, that he wouldn’t drink alcohol again, even for movie scenes.
On the work front, Dharmendra was recently seen in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani with Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh. He also played Shahid Kapoor’s grandfather in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. He will next be seen in Ikkis with Jaideep Ahlawat and Agastya Nanda.
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