‘I almost died there’:Vikram Bhatt recalls harrowing jail experience, says, ‘I still don’t understand politics’

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt recently shared his experience of spending 70 days in Udaipur jail on charges of alleged fraud. Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari were accused of alleged fraud worth ₹30 crore , after which they were arrested. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Bhatt said that his time in jail was very difficult, but there he received more support than expected from his fellow inmates. He revealed that he lived in a barrack with 60 to 80 inmates. According to him, the fellow inmates took special care of him, brought him food, and took care of his clothes. Bhatt said that the inmates called him ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ and would ask him to tell scary stories at night. Bhatt got jaundice in jail Bhatt said that his health deteriorated further during his time in jail and he got jaundice. He said, “I almost died there. Now I don’t know what the politics there was, because people were good to me, but I suffer from an autoimmune disease, ankylosing spondylitis. Because of this, I have pain in my joints and muscles.” The filmmaker further said that it was the month of December-January and it was very cold. Whichever side I slept on, the hip bone on that side would start hurting. If I turned to the other side, the pain would start there. During this time, I also got jaundice. Vikram claimed delay in taking him to hospital Bhatt claimed that despite high fever and weakness, there was a delay in taking him to the hospital. He said that fellow inmates in the barracks helped him by covering him with their blankets, while he was constantly demanding to be sent to the hospital. After his release, he received calls from some people in the film industry. Bhatt said that Mithun Chakraborty and Sanjay Dutt inquired about his well-being. He said that Sanjay Dutt’s call was special for him because they had never worked together. When asked if Akshay Kumar had also contacted him, he said that Akshay was not his friend, so such an expectation was not there. Bhatt also mentioned his childhood friend, Ajay Devgn. He said that Ajay’s call was natural because their relationship is years old. According to Bhatt, every relationship has a different nature, and it is not appropriate to expect the same from everyone.