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Cigarettes
have been predominant in many Bollywood songs, like the popular number
picturised on Dev Anand - "Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya,
har fikr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya", but now Bollywood is making a
conscious effort to avoid lighting up both on and off screen.
In
the black and white era, most romantic heroes used to smoke on screen
and it was a must for the villains. Throwing rings of smoke in the air
used to turn K.N. Singh, Pran and Prem Chopra into believable baddies.
The
trend continued till the government banned images of tobacco use from
all Indian movies and television shows in 2005 because they promoted a
product that kills.
The government order also stated that
offending images in foreign movies and serials would be electronically
blurred and health warnings would be flashed over any scene in which an
actor, from a film predating the ban, is shown smoking.
"No
person, whosoever it is, should smoke on screen. They are celebrities
and influence public mind," K.K. Kapoor, member of the Discipline
Committee of Delhi Medical Council, told IANS.
Initially,
leading Bollywood producers, directors and actors protested the ban as
they felt it amounts to the loss of artistic freedom.
Actor and
former censor board chief Anupam Kher was quoted as having said,
"Tomorrow they can turn around and say do not show guns in movies as it
will encourage violence."
However, producer Kumar Mangat says
Bollywood is not oblivious to the side effects of smoking and the film
fraternity is making conscious efforts to avoid it. He himself helped
many of his friend and colleagues get rid of the bad habit.
"One
of my cameraman has stopped smoking at my behest. Ajay Devgan has cut
down his smoking up to 25 percent. People avoid lighting up in front of
me," said Mangat.
Preaching is easier than doing but Mangat
quit smoking when he was very young. In fact, he banned cigarettes on
the sets of his film "No Smoking" in which John Abraham plays a chain
smoker.
"When I started shooting for 'No Smoking', I decided
that not a single member of the team would smoke on the sets. From the
actor to spot boys, I warned everybody about my decision," said Mangat.
"I
hired a cameraman to click those who used to sneak out to fag. And I
used to fine them. You won't believe I have collected around Rs.162,
000 and am planning to donate it for a good cause," he added.
He
felt that youngsters generally pick up this bad habit because they
associate it with manhood and films do not have any role in promoting
the habit.
"Ban on smoking in films is not going to help. If the
government really wants to control smoking, it should stop the
production of tobacco in the country."
But Kapoor said celebrities are not bothered about the welfare of the society.
"For
their own commercial benefits these actors are not bothering about the
society. Youngsters see them on television or theatre and pick up the
bad habit. Any actor smoking in public is equal to a criminal," said
Kapoor.
However, quite a few Bollywood actors, including Saif
Ali Khan, Viveik Oberoi and John Abraham, have become official brand
ambassadors for anti-smoking campaigns.
Saif, who was recently hospitalised due to some heart problem, quit smoking after being discharged.
Viveik hates smoking and gave a tough time to director Apoorva Lakhiya who wanted him to smoke for "Shootout At Lokhandwala".
Slowly but surely, awareness about the ill effects of smoking is spreading.
Indo-Asian News Service
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