When Amitabh Bachchan smoked 200 cigarettes a day, drank anything he could get his hands on: 'But then I gave it up after...'

While the megastar of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan is a teetotaler, this wasn’t always the case. In one of the old interviews, Big B revealed being a chain smoker, meat-eater, and drinker in the past.

“I don’t smoke, drink or eat meat. It isn’t anything religious but simply a matter of taste. In our family, my father is a vegetarian and my mother is not. Similarly, Jaya eats meat and I don’t. I used to eat meat – in fact, I used to drink and smoke as well but now I have given them up. In Calcutta I smoked 200 cigarettes a day – yes, that’s right, 200, but then I gave it up after coming to Bombay. I used to drink too – anything, we’d drink anything we could get our hands on but a few years ago I decided I didn’t really need it. My habits don’t cause me any problems except when I’m shooting abroad. Then, it becomes difficult to get vegetarian food,” Amitabh revealed in an interview with India Today.

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The actor also spoke about being a non-violent person but accepted that he would lose temper in his younger days. “I don’t think I’m a violent person myself. Nor do I lose my temper often. Of course, I got into a few fights in my college days but that’s about all. Screen violence is very unreal. It’s meant to be fantastic and people accept it as that,” said the _Kalki 2898 AD_ star.

As per Illustrated Weekly of India in 1989, Amitabh’s father-in-law, Taroon Coomar Bhaduri, spoke about his impressions as an actor and said, “I am often asked what sort of a man Amitabh really is. Is he a modern-day Don Juan, a fellow always out for fun? The fact is he is just the opposite. Amit, in real life, is an introvert. He talks only when it is necessary. He is not given to unnecessary exuberance,” he had written, adding, “In spite of his image. Amitabh is a vegetarian, teetotaller and a non-smoker, not by conviction but by choice. Normally a recluse and very reticent, he has a fantastic sense of humour. But he also is a very sensitive person who gets easily hurt. He is a man of strong likes and dislikes, and his circle of friends is a very close one. He goes to parties very rarely.”