Bollywood meeting Ambika Soni today

Mahesh Bhatt, the voice of reason for Bollywood, Javed Akhtar(representing his son Farhan Akhtar in this case perhaps) and producer Ritesh Sidhwani have flown to New Delhi this morning from Mumbai, to meet Union Information and Broadcasting MinisterAmbika Soni. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry directive to ban smoking in Indian cinema or to have a disclaimer in the beginning and the middle of the film to justify the act on screen hasn't gone down well with Bollywood. Last week prominent members of Bollywood including Mahesh Bhatt and superstar Aamir Khan voiced their reservations against such a move saying banning smoking or complying with the Government's directives to have a scroll on screen talking about the perils of smoking when a screen character lights up may prove to be detrimental and also against the right for creative expression. Producer Ritesh Sidhwani says, Javed saab, Mahesh Bhatt and I are headed to the capital for a conversation with Ambika Soni. We need to start a dialogue immediately and resolve this issue. While none of us advocate smoking as a people, we cannot allow our cinema to be tampered with.''