MUMBAI: In an event hosted by the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), Arjun Rampal announced that he is giving it all up by May 31, which is World No Tobacco Day. CPAA is a charitable organisation working for cancer patients for the last 39 years.

“It’s not a proud thing to say, but I am addicted to tobacco. I have tried to give up cigarettes many times. But the sad part is, as they say ‘a smoker has never quit’. After several days or weeks of not smoking, something happens — an evening out with friends or just plain boredom — and it relapses. But honestly, I am trying hard,” says the actor who was the perfect villain with a cigarette dangling from his lips in Om Shanti Om.

For most smokers, adolescence is the time when they get addicted to a lot of thing. So when did Arjun take his first puff?

“I was a state-level athlete. I had never taken a puff till the time I was in class XII,” says Arjun.

“When I was in college, I started moving around with a group of people, some of whom used to smoke. I thought it was cool to smoke with them. I tried one cigarette without realising that it could turn into a habit. And once someone develops a liking for cigarettes, it’s very difficult to come out of it. Stay away from tobacco,” the actor admits.