Anubhav Sinha celebrates 5 years of being smoke free on World No Tobacco Day, reveals he consumed 20 cigarettes a day

Time of India

31-05-2025

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha
On World No Tobacco Day, acclaimed filmmaker Anubhav Sinha opened up about a deeply personal milestone of completing five years without smoking. In a heartfelt note shared with Hindustan Times, the 'Article 15' and 'Thappad' director reflected on his long and difficult relationship with cigarettes, offering an honest account of how he started and more importantly how he stopped.
Sinha recalled how smoking in his younger days was equated with growing into manhood. Influenced by advertisements featuring rugged male icons, lighting a cigarette was seen as a rite of passage. Back then cigarette warnings were often dismissed as mere background noise. 'Warnings felt like dares,' he shared, adding that the urge to rebel often overpowered reason in adolescence.
Addiction and denial in adulthood
By his mid-30s, smoking had become a daily habit of consuming an entire pack of 20 cigarettes a day.
It had transitioned from being a rebellious act to a part of his daily identity. He remembers discussing cigarette brands like fashion choices but deep down he knew he needed to quit. The problem? Nicotine had its claws in too deep.
Despite multiple attempts, some lasting days, others months, he always found himself back where he started. 'Ninety-nine percent of smokers I know want to quit,' he wrote in the article published by Hindustan Times.
'But they struggle.' Even after health scares, many smokers, he said continue because the addiction is overpowering.
What finally made him stop
Sinha finally found his resolve five years ago. No external factor triggered it. He simply told himself, 'Enough.' After trying over 20 times across three decades, something clicked and he quit. For good. 'Now my pillow doesn't smell. I enjoy smoke-free spaces. I'm clean,' he wrote.
Support from his family, especially his younger brother Anupam who had quit a month earlier, and his son Shlok, a staunch anti-smoker helped solidify his decision.
His message to young people: Don't start at all
Today, Sinha is urging young people to never light that first cigarette. 'Not starting is so much easier than quitting,' he emphasized. Once you begin then the battle to quit becomes one of the hardest things you'll ever face. 'And if you don't quit it will hit you so hard.'
Anubhav Sinha whose work often challenges social issues hopes his story helps others understand the true grip of addiction and the freedom that lies beyond it.
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