It’s one of those WTF moments, when you hear on the radio, while you are driving, that a case has been slapped on an actor because he appears on a poster smoking.
Sure, cinema plays a very important role in Indian life. Actors are treated next to God, or rather the other way around, where even gods take a second place. The industry has yielded a lot of gems which form the Diamond Necklace that the Indian Cinema industry is. That automatically leads to a bit of imitation of style by some easily impressionable young minds and we can hope that this will be for the greater good of society. The movie itself carries a good message, if you look beyond the story, of living within your means, and now; dont smoke too!
The case slapped against Fahad Fasil an upcoming actor, who has been doing an excellent job so far, proving he is no rough diamond, is because he is portrayed as smoking in a movie poster. The rules (whose? god knows) states that there should be a statutory warning placed on smoking and drinking scenes. This must be to deter those who are considering taking up either or both as a past time or hobby. However, movies can depict violence, sexual violence and any other genre of violence against all genders without placing a statutory warning that it is a health hazard for the victim and punishable by law. Thats not done because everyone knows it would be as effective as lighting a cigarette under water.
If the government or authorities or anyone is serious about banning smoking, because it is a health hazard, the first thing they should do is ban cigarettes (without which a certain actor would not be able to perform his trademark move) and not attack an artist. The censor board should have taken care of that. A ban on tobacco will definitely deter anyone from taking up smoking, but again it needs to be seen if cinema or tobacco and its products are the bigger contributor to the economy.
Any publicity is good publicity and that may be the case here, as the public will definitely sit up and take notice of the poster, the movie and the actor on it.
Those who smoke and plan to start smoking…sadly…will always continue to do so…inspite of a poster, a warning or anything, as long as they can get their hands on a ciggie!
Mentabolism 