PMK justifies move to ban smoking scenes

CHENNAI: PMK founder Dr.S Ramdoss today termed a section of the film industry's opposition to the Union Government's proposed ban on smoking scenes in films as 'meaningless.' It may be recalled that this issue had been 'smoking' for quite sometime now ever since his party locked horns with Tamil superstar Rajnikant during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Quoting extensively from a World Health Organisation (WHO) report on portrayal of tobacco in Indian cinema titled 'Bollywood - victim or ally', Ramdoss said 76 per cent of the films reviewed between 1991-2002 contained smoking scenes.
Maintaining that the proposed ban on smoking scenes in films was based on WHO guidelines, he dismissed the argument that it would amount to the curtailment of freedom of expression.
"It's time we learnt there's nothing sexy, adventurous or stylish about smoking. Tobacco industry is using developing countries to dump their products and make profits. Because use of tobacco is getting decreased in developed countries", he pointed out.