Prateik Smita Patil is the son of the late actress Smita Patil and actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar. Prateik recently got candid about his long battle with substance abuse, and how it led to him being expelled from schools and colleges.
In a conversation with Bollywood Bubble, Prateik spoke about how he had enrolled in Whistling Woods, a film institute founded by filmmaker Subhash Ghai. However, Prateik was thrown out of it because of his drug addiction.
Prateik said, "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 2 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."
He added, "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."
Prateik recently got married to actor Priya Banerjee. The internet was abuzz with their intimate wedding, and Raj Babbar not being invited to their wedding.
On the work front, Prateik was seen in Salman Khan's Sikandar, the film had Rashmika Mandanna as the female lead. It was directed by AR Murugadoss. Prateik was also seen in HIT: The Third Case, which had Nani and Srinidhi Shetty in the lead. The film was helmed by Sailesh Kolanu.
