MumbaiIt was the year 1997, when cricketer Salil Ankola got a big shock in his life, At that time he turned from cricketer to actor for money, When I entered acting, I worked in many TV shows, These included ‘Kehta Hai Dil’, ‘Kora Kaagaz’ and ‘Vikral Aur Gabral’,
Even though Salil looked dashing and handsome on screen, behind the scenes his condition was not very good. He was struggling with alcohol addiction. Recently, in a new interview, Salil talked openly about this chapter of his life. He told that in the year 1997, he had stopped playing cricket and started drinking alcohol.
Salil narrated his story
While talking on Vicky Lalwani’s YouTube channel, Salil said that when I started drinking alcohol, I did not think that I would drink only this much. Kept drinking for years and gradually started drinking heavily. Between 1999-2011 I did not watch cricket at all. Because seeing that would probably have healed my old wounds. If I was up 24 hours a day, I would be drinking 24 hours a day. Maybe I had found a way to get out of something or to escape from it.
Salil was helped by his family members and friends. The actor said- Everyone tried to stop me. But this thing also happens to oneself. Maybe I didn’t want to stop at that time. Over the years, I went to a lot of rehabs and tried to quit drinking, but couldn’t. Then one day in rehab I watched the World Cup in 2011. This was the first time in a decade that I was watching cricket.
Salil was struggling with alcohol addiction
Talking on alcohol, Salil said- People think that drinking alcohol is a habit, some people do it for fun. But this is not a habit, it is a disease. May God be with me, otherwise I would not have been in front of you today. I would have said goodbye to this world in the year 2014 itself. I went to ICCU 12 times. I was declared dead three times.
I gave up alcohol when I met my second wife. We met on Facebook and she was a doctor. He understood my illness and saw that I was taking things to task for my body and mind. He helped me a lot to get out of this. Salil has made a comeback in TV and films. He was last seen in the Tamil film Pambattam.
Comments are closed.