Felt lonely when I stopped doing films: Jeetendra

For someone who practically lived on a film set, veteran actor Jeetendra says his decision to give up movies was followed by a bit of loneliness, where he took time to adjust to his off-screen life.

Jeetendra had a smashing career of nearly four decades starting in the 1960s with hits like "Geet Gaya Patharon Ne", "Gunahon Ka Devta", "Farz", "Humjoli" to "Caravan", "Dharam Veer", "Parichay", "Nagin", among others in the 1970s.

While he continued to be in top form till the '80s with credits like "Himmatwala", "Tohfa" and "Mawaali", the work eventually slowed down and ultimately came to a halt by mid-90s.

With that the fun of being on a set, brimming with the energy of the cast and crew, was also somewhere lost.

"When an actor goes to a studio, his only entertainment is people around him. He makes friends with the technicians, co-artistes, makeup men, there are so many people to talk to. But when I stopped doing films, I felt a little lonely. I didn't know what to do.

"I've done small cameos in reality shows here and there, but it's always fun to go to a studio because you meet a lot of people there. That was the only thing which I was missing. I wasn't exactly missing the acting but the fun of shooting," Jeetendra told PTI in an interview.

The 78-year-old actor, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, said though a lot of actors from his time are still working, he decided to hit pause as he was "burnt out".

"I did so many films, I only saw studios and nothing else. There were a lot of actors of my time who were like me. We were doing a lot of films at one time. We were all in the studio, from morning to evening. We would work so much.

"There came a stage when video took over, piracy was a big thing... That was the period when box office went through a crisis. That was the time I also got really cheesed off. I thought I have done enough of shooting. I didn't look after my children also, I didn't know when they grew up."
"If you'd go to an actor's hotel room in the morning when we were outdoors you'd find bar munchies, soda bottles, empty whiskey bottles. But today's actors, you'll find health drinks, dumbbells! They are so fit, energetic. No actor in our times would've gone to the gym."