Professional Report - Smoke Free Movies

Cinema has a larger than life format, it’s a lot about imagery and image building. So when a certain actor
becomes popular, youngsters do start imitating him, for instance the Hrithik Roshan kind of look after his film
became a hit…
I am not saying that it does not translate (into people following what the see their favourite actors do on
screen). I am saying that the extent of translation is questionable. Would it be alarming? Maybe not. But I would
also look at the aspect that certain things are follow-able. Certain things actually change your lifestyle. When
you talk about smoking, alcohol consumption, narcotics consumption…however larger than life it is portrayed,
you can maybe immediately try it after you come out of the theatre and you’re in a restaurant … you’re trying to
be cool. Whether that would convert into a habit, I would say a very small margin of audience maybe that
affected. Unless you’re talking about hardcore fans. If you look at the South, what Rajnikant does, that’s almost
looked at as the thing to do. You’re literally worshipping the guy. So if he’s smoking a particular brand of
cigarettes you would see a huge rise in that brand’s sales. In certain places I would say yes. Whether it’s
alarming, I don’t know whether it can be considered an alarming effect.
Tobacco companies place their products in films in the West. Do you see that happening in India.
No. We are still way behind. We don’t really follow heroes. We like them. But as soon as they stop being
heroes, we will be throwing them off as easily. But I guess in the West, it’s how Rajnikant is. They would have
people who are followers. There are some people that even today, 20 years after the release of a film, are
doing the same thing because they showed it in that film. In the Indian context… I keep coming back to
Rajnikant. But he is also careful about what he does on screen. So he is consciously doing the things that he
knows are going to have a wrong impact. So when he does it, he is going to justify that. Filmmakers, stars,
people who think they are influential on weaker minds, do take care of that aspect. To come back to the
specific question in the Indian context, I would say, no, I don’t think we’re in a sitaution where we need to worry
about that.
You don’t see tobacco companies actually offering money to place their brands in a movie?
They wouldn’t pay money to place their brands. I mean, let’s look at advertising separately and films
separately. Brand association is something like doing charity for the brand. If you get associated with a charity
drive, it does not mean that you feel sensitive about it, it just means that you invest in such issues. In the same
way brand association on screen…if you have Hrithik driving a car, you might as well have him drive an Ikon,
that would be the brand’s thinking. But if they were to pay a huge amount for that they would rethink, sit with
the agency, work it out, look at how much mileage that particular endorsement will get them. I would think
brand association and the failures in brand association in Hindi films has made them more sceptical. Just when
it was becoming a bubble, it burst. There came a point when filmmakers were looking at brand associations
and thinking let’s make some moolah out of that. But the way Yaadein went, the way other films went, where
that brand became an eyesore in the film… with not just the audience. But the audience pounced on them…So
brand association in India still has a long way to go. Even advertising itself. Certain forms of advertising like this
would take a while.
There have been some cases where actors have endorsed/been associated with cigarette brands. In your
experience have you noticed that actors who endorse a certain brand, use the same when they are working in
films?
That would be a tough call to take. But from my experience I would say Aamir is loyal to his brand. He works
for Coke, so he would just use Coke. He would never have Pepsi nor would he let anybody else have Pepsi.
He is brand loyal. Whether Akshay Kumar smokes Charminar? I don’t think he smokes. Jackie Shroff, whether
he smokes what he advertised for…I don’t think so. Maybe, if it’s a lifestyle brand, that may be true. But if it is a
low-end cigarettes, I don’t think they would use it.
Generally speaking, do you think that smoking on screen has increased or declined?
I would say it has declined, slightly. I don’t know how to put it. But if you see the pace of films today, it’s
increasing constantly. If I can remember Dev Anand lighting a cigarette, taking a drag and blowing it in the
air…the whole thing stays on screen. Today I don’t think there’s so much time to do all that. If you have an
actor smoking on screen, he would already have lit it, have taken a drag and it would just be a passing
reminder that he was smoking – if his character so demands. Per se, in terms of smoking’s increase in screen
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