'A new life after conscious sobriety': Pooja Bhatt speaks up for fight against addiction

Mumbai, July 20 (IANS): Actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt says she found a new way of living after choosing conscious sobriety.

The actress says embracing one's vulnerability is not a sign of weakness, but strength. 

"Conscious sobriety is what I chose two and a half years ago and I now have a new life. Addiction comes in many forms - alcohol, substances, love, work, power... the list goes on," Pooja wrote on Twitter. 

"Strength lies in sharing frailties and embracing vulnerability. (I) Just want people to know they are not alone," she added. 

Pooja quit drinking on the Christmas of 2016, and has been quite vocal about her struggle with addiction. 

"I stopped drinking by first acknowledging that I had a drinking problem. Because you are a woman and you live in a society where you are always taught or forced to brush things under the carpet.

"We tend to bury this shameful habit that we have of covering it up and say, 'Oh, we don't have a problem, it is somebody else's and I am not that drunk'," Pooja had said. 

Pooja shot to stardom in the nineties with her roles in Daddy, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, Sadak and Zakhm.

As a director, she has helmed Paap, Kajraare and Jism 2 among other projects.

She makes a comeback in the upcoming Sadak 2, which also sees her father Mahesh Bhatt returning as director after two decades.

The film, a follow-up of Bhatt's 1991 superhit Sadak brings back Sanjay Dutt, and also stars Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur.

Sadak, a romantic thriller, revolved around a young man who falls in love with a sex worker.