Prateik Smita Patil recalls being a drug addict: Was thrown out of film institute

India Today

08-05-2025

Actor Prateik Smita Patil opened up about becoming a better man from someone who relied heavily on substance abuse during the early days of his career. The actor, who was recently seen in Nani-starrer 'HIT: The Third Case', spoke in an interview and revealed that he was also thrown out of a film institute because of his addiction.During an interview with Bollywood Bubble, Patil shared that he would always regret that phase of his life, because this was the last image his grandmother saw of him on her deathbed. The 38-year-old lost his mother a month after his birth. He has talked at great lengths about missing his mother, actor Smita Patil, and how his life would have been different if he had been raised by her.advertisementThe actor said, "The grandparents saw the worst of me in those last few years. I was a raging addict. My grandmother died seeing me as an addict. That's something I regret. I wish she could see the man I have become today."
He revealed that it was after his debut Hindi film - 'Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na' (2008) - that he got enroled at a film institute. Patil said he pursued his film studies for two years, after which he was 'thrown out' because of his drug addiction.The actor narrated, "I shot 'Jaane Tu...' and then I went to Whistling Woods. I was studying a little bit here and there. There was a kind of slump as I didn't know what I was doing. I was there for about two years, and then I was thrown out of Whistling Woods for doing drugs. Now that I think about it, it is funny. I got thrown out of every school and college I went into. I was a menace." advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priya Banerjee (@priyabanerjee)Patil was born in November 1986. He lost his mother, legendary actor Smita Patil, in December of the same year. She suffered from a childbirth complication called puerperal sepsis and died on December 13, aged 31.In the same interview, the actor also talked about growing up 'hating' both his mother and father, because they were 'unavailable'. He said, "Being unavailable and growing up, everything just felt different — people started treating me differently, offering pity and love. It was just different and because of that, I started hating them. I didn't want to be associated with them."Patil's doesn't share a good equation with his father, actor Raj Babbar. He recently got married to his longtime partner, Priya Banerjee, but didn't invite his family to the ceremony.Must Watch