Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss’s recent appeal to stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to keep away from smoking onscreen or publicly, as it encourages youngsters to smoke, generated quite a stir recently.
In a quick rejoinder to the health minister, Shah Rukh Khan said that, “I am grateful to Dr Ramadoss for being concerned about our health, but at the same time I must mention that whenever I am seen on television, I always underline that smoking is injurious to health." The actor maintained that he was "trying to quit smoking in real life too".
But the issue was not over yet. Adding to his reply, Shah Rukh said, “I think there is a huge amount of creative freedom that should be allowed in cinema and arts, and one should not go around picking on little things - because that's just cinema, it's make- belief and we should not have huge censorship on that.” The tussle between the health minister and celebrities smoking onscreen and in public has been going on for quite a while now.
Apparently, in India 40 per cent of all health problems occur because of tobacco. Despite the fact that tobacco kills over 2,200 people every day in India, over 5,500 youngsters initiate tobacco consumption every day. The age group from 10 to 25 definitely falls in the vulnerable age group. Half of these youngsters will eventually die because of tobacco consumption. According to the health minister, 52 per cent of children have their first puff of a cigarette because of movie celebrities.
All this brouhaha over onscreen smoking, but what does the law say? Although there is no provision in law that bans celebrities from smoking, there are, however laws that ban smoking in public. Says Nandita Rao, a lawyer, “The truth of the matter is that there is no legally defined term called a ‘celebrity’. One man’s celebrity can be other man’s villain. Celebrities are also human and their personal lives should not be encroached upon.”
Hemant Goswami, the chairman of a Chandigarh based NGO, Burning Brain Society, contends that most of the propaganda which relates “smoking” with the issue of “artistic expression” is a creation of tobacco industry for commercial interests. There are hundreds of tobacco industry documents, to prove this contention.
Even though violence and sex form part of the Navrasa, (the nine flavours of acting) tobacco use has no role in acting or depiction of emotion. “Tobacco is purely a commercial product which is highly addictive in nature. No acting manual in the world prescribes tobacco as a tool for acting or film making,” he says.
As far as freedom of speech and expression are concerned, the opinion is divided. While people like lawyer Nandita Rao believe that no such ethical code of conduct should be implemented and “it is the responsibility of the parents to see to it that their children do not get addicted to these vices”, there is also a strong lobby which believes that freedom of speech is not an absolute right giving one a right to spread adverse practices. Freedom of speech and expression is governed by many other concerns and the welfare of public is at the heart of it.
Movies such as Swadesh, Bunty Aur Babli, Yuva, Musafir and Lucky were seen projecting smoking as stylish and cool. Hemant Goswami emphasises that, “Movies not only project tobacco as something glamorous and fashionable but also promote the myths that it reduces stress, makes one brave and helps look good and trendy. All these projections invariably promote tobacco, specially among the youngsters.”
Another argument that often crops up is that if tobacco has to be banned in movies, then why not put an embargo over murder, rape and drug abuse as well?
But there is a major difference between the two. Children do not see their parents, friends and teachers killing someone, while they do relate smoking with their parents, peers, neighbours, teachers and thus, are more susceptible to the ill-effects of smoking.
Although the health ministry’s plans to put pictorial warnings and photographs of oral cancer patients and babies affected by passive smoking on all tobacco products are yet to see the light of the day, what can be done, however, is to ensure that the horrific numbers depicting the increasing tobacco addictions do not escalate further, and celebrities take up the mantle and do their bit for the society.
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