Piyush Mishra has revealed his long battle with alcohol addiction, a ‘deadly disease’ that took his life away. Despite the intense desire, he remained sober in groups like Gulaal. Alcohol led to unfortunate actions, workplace scares, and a stroke in 2009. Vipassana helped keep it under control, though he admits: “Alcoholism never goes away.”
Piyush Mishra, the acclaimed actor and writer, has shared his tough and protracted struggle with alcohol addiction, opening up on raw personal moments from a time that disrupted his life on every front.
He described addiction as a “deadly disease” that creeps in unnoticed, often evading even its victims.
Piyush Mishra talks about uncontrollable desire
In Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, Piyush spoke about his battle with alcohol addiction. He explained: “At some point, you start to feel that drinking alcohol is necessary. Its effect is that the person wants to drink more. Alcoholism is a fatal disease, and even the alcoholic does not realize that it is so. Even medical science does not have a cure for alcoholism.”
There comes a time when you need alcohol, whether you want it or not, and your body craves it.
“I felt it myself.”
Piyush Mishra is demure in the set
Piyush revealed that despite suffering from alcoholism, he never drank while working. “I never acted after drinking, I never went to a set drunk. It affected my life – I had the mind of an alcoholic. While singing ‘Okay’, I had the mind of an alcoholic; while working in ‘Gulal’, I had the mind of an alcoholic but I did not drink alcohol at that time.”
I was drinking because of physical desire, and you can’t suppress that desire.
“He continued to speak openly about how alcohol changed his behavior, causing him to do things he later barely knew how to do. The actor shared, “After drinking, I did many things that later made me feel, ‘This is not me’. I had issues with my mother, and I said a lot of hurtful things to her when I was drunk. My mother was living with me in Mumbai, and by then I realized that I had to forgive her for any grievances I had in the past, but even then, I didn’t stop.”
I’ve said a lot of cruel things to her.The actor added: “I made many inappropriate and obscene phone calls to women, and the next morning I couldn’t even remember them. Later, when I mentioned it, they would say: ‘Sir, you said that on the phone last night – such vulgar things.’ I would say: ‘I can’t say that’, but they insisted that I did. At that time, I wasn’t in control of myself. I was doing things that I didn’t want to do, things that I thought I could never do in a sane state of mind.”
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Piyush Mishra talks about fear in the workplace
Mishra admitted how his actions affected his work life, making co-workers worry about him. “Professionally, people were afraid of me because I would act that way. It started to affect my work. People started saying I’m very difficult to work with, and that perception still exists, that I’m moody and difficult to work with. I’m tired of explaining that I’m not that person anymore; I’ve pretty much gotten myself under control.
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Piyush Mishra is on the spiritual path to mastery
Although Piyush admits that he is not completely alcohol-free, he explained how spiritual practices helped him tame his addiction over time. “I didn’t give up alcohol completely – I still drank occasionally, but not regularly. My cravings decreased through spiritual means. My actions and incidents while drinking continued to increase, and then in 2009 I suffered a stroke, which affected my right side. After that, I practiced Vipassana and got my cravings under control.
But I’m still an alcoholic, alcoholism never goes away. You can take a daily break. You can stop the disease, but you can’t get rid of it.” Recalling the chaos of those days, he said: “I became an antisocial person. My work saved me. Otherwise, the things I did… people would have killed me. Given the kind of behavior I had, people would have beaten me to death.”
Piyush Mishra talks about art hindered by addiction
During his 2024 interview with SCREEN, Piyush revealed how alcohol “hindered” his artistic production and rejected the idea that any drug “enhances” creativity. “I was in a very bad state, and it affected me nervously. Under the influence of alcohol, I started talking nonsense.” He added that sobriety had not completely eliminated his alcoholic thought patterns, causing him to “react differently” at moments. “Like talking some trash in front of old people.
I have come back from the brink of destruction. “I knew if I continued like this, it would be the end of me.”
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