Professional Report - Smoke Free Movies

Definitely. If I am a believer in the philosophy that we should have an anti-tobacco campaign, I should also say
that this exercise should be stopped as soon as possible. But what I’m told is that Filmfare had a long contract
with them, for five years. Recently they realised that this policy needs to be changed because they also got a
lot of letters from the people. Manikchand has its own explanations…that we are not just a gutka brand, but we
deal in rice, maida, cards, they have 15-20 businesses. Definitely, if it’s purely a tobacco company, I don’t think
such sponsorships will work.
Thank you.
Ramesh Sippy
What is your perception of the influence of cinema on youth?
Certainly to some extent there is some influence. Stars have a large fan following. They are influenced by the
stars whose fans they are. But there are a lot of factors involved. What percentage of influence cinema has
over the youth, I don’t know whether studies have being able to measure that. Yes, but to some extent it does
have an influence. The film industry itself is quite conscious about the evils of smoking. And you will notice the
difference between films 20-30 years ago and today’s films…the hero would be the one smoking and quite
flashily too, making it something probably to emulate. But today most of the actors have kept it off the screen
and the makers have done the same. Unless it is very essential to the script or the story of the film, they avoid
using tobacco portrayal.
Is this due to the kind of films that are being made or is there a general awareness about tobacco’s
harmfulness?
Yes, there is a general awareness. Obviously artistes are pressured by medical and other groups and they
personally also feel that if we can help in a little way, probably this is the way to do it. Even if some of them do
personally smoke, at least consciously on screen they try to avoid that image.
Generally speaking, it’s the negative characters who smoke. Some people would argue that the negative
characters too are portrayed in a stylistic manner and could be emulated…
To some extent, it does influence. I don’t think that the negative character would be portrayed in a manner
which people would want to emulate. If the portrayal is black or negative, he would be looked upon in a
negative light. Yes sometimes, these kind of characters can have a fascination…stylisation does make it
appealing…In general, I feel that as adolescents grow up a certain amount of indulgence will take place.
Otherwise they would not have experienced anything. A lot of it is just a part of growing up. And if it stays that
way, and if it stays at that level…something that you need to do to feel grown-up as long as the habit forming
does not become a part of it, then in a way it’s healthier. Otherwise, the suppressed desire to do something can
suck you into a kind of world from which it may be difficult to get out of.
Unfortunately, tobacco consumption is very addictive and some of WHO statistics say that one in 2 youngsters
today will die of tobacco related causes by 2020. Which is quite alarming. The other thing is that tobacco
companies, are resorting to using in-film advertising, to get over the bans imposed on direct advertising. Is this
something that is happening in Indian cinema?
I am not aware of it happening in a big way here. But I guess if it has happened in the West, people would try to
use the same kind of (techniques)…can you point out any particular film?
For instance, Satya had a lot of smoking in it…
Satya is the kind of film which is not a normal one. It is about youth gone wrong. And one thing about Satya is
that each and every one of the characters dies. So, it’s a kind of a path that is a dangerous path. And however
much indulgence may have been shown, the end they meet is bad…they all die having taken the wrong path.
There is a lesson in there somewhere and that’s not the kind of life one would think of emulating.
That’s true. But it also presents an opportunity for tobacco companies to target in-film advertising.
Taking an example of Satya…there is probably one or two films in a year like that.
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