6th June 2005

India, which makes the highest number of movies in the world, became the first country in the world to ban smoking in films.

Not only will we be able to see our favorite heroes flicking their cigarettes in their inimitable styles in movies, we will not be able to see even the bad and evil guys smoking on screen after the notification from the Government made on the World No Tobacco Day. The notification made by the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss son of PMK chief S Ramadoss, which comes into effect from August 1, totally bans the display of tobacco products or their use by characters in movies and television, besides the mandatory scrolling of a health warning in the existing scenes of smoking. The law also applies to foreign films or old films being re-released or shown on television. Distributors and television channels will be required to blur the screen each time an actor lights up or a cigarette brand makes a guest appearance. The horizontal warning scroll also becomes mandatory.

This is the same Ramadoss, whose party Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) launched a vicious campaign against Rajnikanth for his smoking scenes in his film Baba, when it was released in Tamilnadu. At that time, Dr Ramadoss accused Rajnikanth of spoiling the youth by glorifying smoking and drinking in his films. Taking the cue from the leader, his followers raided a few theatres in the Vanniar heartland in north Tamilnadu and seized film rolls. During that time whatever actions the partymen took in stalling the film were completely not legal. Now that Dr. Ramadoss is the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, he is looking at legal way to stop not just Rajnikanth but all the actors from Bollywood to Tollywood from smoking on screen in India. Maybe Rajnikanth not holding a cigarette in the film "Chandramukhi" must have been a decision taken after lot of brainstorming.

The concerns of the Government over the rise in number of people who are smoking are alarming and genuine and definitely needs some steps from the Government to curb smoking. I don't think anyone would disagree that smoking is injurious to health and it shouldn't be glorified at all in movies.

Until now I was under the impression that the arbiter of content on Television and in Cinema falls under the purview of the information and Broadcasting Ministry. I am not sure if the Health ministry has taken the Information and Broadcasting ministry into confidence over this decision.

Ministry officials said they took these steps after a recent WHO study. A report of the Study on the portrayal of tobacco in Indian Cinema prepared by Strategic Mediaworks for the Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO, Geneva can be found at

http://www.smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/pdf/Bollywood%20final-report2.pdf

The conclusions from this report attempts to break few myths.

Myth 1: That portrayal of tobacco consumption in Indian cinema is on the decline.
On the contrary, tobacco consumption is today being viewed as "normal behavior" by youth.

Myth2: That tobacco consumption is portrayed mostly to underline the negative traits of a character.
In fact, both in Hindi and South Indian films, more and more "good guy" characters are smoking.

Myth3: That youth behavior is not influenced by mainstream movies.
The focus group findings clearly reveal that there is a strong linkage between films and youth behavior.

Myth 4: That films do not glamorize cigarette smoking and that it is used just to project "realism".
The truth is that smoking incidents in movies is much higher than actual cigarette consumption among the Indian population.

It is interesting to note that though this report studied the portrayal of Tobacco in Indian films in detail, it has not recommended a total ban on smoking on screen.

Creativity has different aspects of human expression. Films can't reflect only positive aspects or positive characters. Films are bound to have negative characters, terrorists, rapists etc. If statistics show that rapes are on the rise in society, the government should not intervene by issuing a notification banning all rape scenes from movies. Already a censor board is there to look into such aspects, and it is better to leave the job to them to censor the content shown in films.

There might be several instances where a character smoking a cigarette is required to depict certain situations like tension, nervousness, carelessness etc. While some of the scenes could be handled without a cigarette, a total ban on using cigarettes from Film and television will curtail the creativity of the filmmakers to some extent. If some one were making a movie with a plot where the protagonist is a chain smoker trying to quit smoking, how can such films be made after the new laws are implemented? Smoking is a prop that actors need. Smoking is used as an acting device and smoking helps bring out certain weaknesses or flaws in characters. Usually in films, smoking is not just associated with villains and vamps but the heroes too.

International tobacco brands Marlboro, Dunhill, Benson and Hedges, and Lucky Strike advertise on Formula One racing. As per the new directives, these promotional have to be blipped out. However according to one ESPN official, it is physically impossible to keep a watch on Formula One-as cars whiz past with tobacco brands on their fenders.

Policing the 250 channels beaming into the country, some of which are up linked overseas from countries as different as Thailand, Singapore and Israel, and are outside the ambit of Indian laws is not going to be easy with the existing staff of the Information and Broadcasting ministry or is it the Health ministry who are going to police the content...

Stricter tobacco control polices need to be adopted as the portrayal of tobacco in films has a significant impact on audiences, but I don't think banning the smoking scenes completely in films is a solution. Banning smoking in films won't stop people who want to smoke from smoking. Some of the other alternatives that could be considered by the Government and the Indian film industry without curbing the creativity of actors and filmmakers are to reduce the influence of tobacco portrayal and negate the impact of tobacco portrayal in film are:

Run Strong Anti-Smoking Ads during the Film Screening: If a movie depicts any celebrity smoking on screen, it should be made mandatory for that celebrity to endorse no smoking advertisements issued in public interests which can be broadcasted by the ministry 1 month before and 2 months after the film is released in Television. Producers and exhibitors should also run strong anti-smoking ads, which are not produced or sponsored by tobacco companies, before and during the interval of a film with any tobacco presence in it. Preferably, the actors who are shown smoking in the film should be used to persuade viewers against smoking. Leading film personalities have said that they are open to the idea of inserting such anti-smoking messages and being associated with advocacy campaigns.

Completely ban cigarettes in movie posters used for publicity. The recently released movies, "Bhadra" and "Andharivadu" had wall posters showing Ravi Teja and Chiranjeevi smoking cigarettes. The characterization in the movie may call for the character to smoke a cigarette, but there should be no reason to portray the actor smoking the cigarette in movie posters. It makes one think, if the Cigarette Companies are sponsoring a part of the movie publicity.

Statutory Warning Before the Movie: If the movie is going to have any smoking scenes, then at the beginning of the movie, a warning can appear saying "This movie contains scenes that depicts the actors smoking, However we would like to mention that Smoking is injurious to Health" instead of such warning scrolling during the scenes thereby causing disturbance to the viewer.

Modify Indian Rating Guidelines: Ensure that movies that have been issued youth oriented U (Universal) and U/A (Universal adult) do not have any scenes depicting smoking on screen otherwise change their ratings.

Certify No Pay-Offs: Ensure and certify in the movie that filmmakers or their agents or fronts are not receiving anything of value from the Tobacco companies. Studies show that youth are more likely to be impacted if they feel that their role models favor a particular brand of tobacco both on and off-screen. Such a certificate would go a long way in establishing the credentials of the filmmakers and actors.

Ban Sponsorship of Film Events: Media and film companies should stop supporting events that are sponsored by tobacco companies.

Stop Identifying Tobacco Brands: Filmmakers should ensure that Tobacco brands should not be shown in scenes, as they are unnecessary.

The film industry has already expressed their disillusionment at this decision and is hoping that the Health Ministry will either amend its notification or by act of God, the portfolio of Anbumani gets changed to something else.

Thanks.
Sriram Thota
[email protected]

Also read Sriram's other articles
Athanokkade Bhadra
Chandramukhi - neither Basha not Baba