The movies-and again,indeed my post is about todays most influential means of Mass Communication-have proved once again,that just how strong their hold over the youth is.

As reported in The Lancent(which was the July 2003 issue) The exposure to smoking in movies was assessed for 3547 adolescents,between  ages 10-14 who had never tried to smoke before.

They studied participants’ exposure to smoking in movies  by asking each student to indicate which films he or she had seen from a unique list of 50 movies. The movies had been previously coded for incidents of smoking.

Of course,no one had realised the powerful effect it had on the children….

2603 children were sucessfully contacted 13-26 months later,to see if they had initiated smoking.[Students who reported any smoking (just a few puffs, one to 100 cigarettes, and more than 100 cigarettes) were classified as having initiated smoking]

THE RESULTS:

Movies,have an iron claw,an upper hand when it comes to what is right and wrong.Adolescents tend to follow blindly withought realising the media is leading them astray.They tend to ruin  their health in order to achieve the “cool”status,as  publicised and glorified by the media.

The mind is like a white cloth,you dip it in red and it changes red,dip it in blue and blue appears,You dip it in tobacco,and we have smoking…..the mind should be dipped in the knowledge that movies can and do often air things that are not right,we as the youth have to take a stand and say no to smoking and tobacco,our voices when raised for the good can influence,not only the ones who knw and love us,but also people who we have never seen or heard before…..

Stop smoking…..

After years of booing actors who light up on screen, anti-tobacco activists seem to have found something to cheer about in Aamir Khan’s `Ghajini’. The recently released film is sending out a no-smoking message, earning kudos from long-time crusaders on Saturday.

According to research, 52% of children have their first puff after watching a celebrity light up. Moreover, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss had requested Bollywood filmmakers to not show actors smoking on screen.

“We appreciate the efforts of and thank A Murugadoss, the director of `Ghajini’ and Aamir Khan for highlighting such an important issue,” said Dr P C Gupta, director of the Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, who has been in the forefront of the campaign to ban smoking in public places.

In the film, the character played by Jiah Khan is walking down the steps of a mall when she spots some men blowing smoke in people’s faces inside the mall. The camera then pans to a `No Smoking’ board before Jiah says, “Yahan smoking allowed nahi hain.”

When contacted, Murugadoss said, “I have never encouraged smoking in my films. If you look at this film, even the negative characters don’t smoke. In fact, the scene in the film that does have smoking is actually against it.” The director added, “Youngsters worship actors and follow them blindly. So I always try to project my actors in a manner that his or her character does not glorify things which are not good.”

Aamir himself said a balance should be struck between discouraging smoking and ensuring artistic freedom. “I fully support the drive to help people to quit smoking and I would strongly advise the youth not to get into this harmful habit in the first place. However, I don’t think a ban on smoking in films makes sense. Films are a creative medium and are meant to reflect different aspects of life, good and bad. Murder is illegal in real life, but we don’t put a ban on it in films. But we should definitely make every effort to discourage smoking in real life.”

Exposure to smoking in movies has been linked with adolescent smoking initiation in some studies. Smoking depicted in movies is a major and growing public-health problem. Concern over smoking in movies led WHO to make ‘Smoke Free Film’ a theme of 2003 World No Tobacco Day. A recent research undertook a study to ascertain whether exposure to smoking in movies predicts smoking initiation.

Researchers from the U. S. assessed exposure to smoking shown in movies in 3547 adolescents, aged 10-14 years, who reported in a baseline survey that they had never tried smoking. Exposure to smoking in movies was estimated for individual respondents on the basis of the number of smoking occurrences viewed in unique samples of 50 movies, which were randomly selected from a larger sample pool of popular contemporary movies. They then successfully re-contacted 2603 (73%) students 13-26 months later for a follow-up interview to determine whether they had initiated smoking.

It was found that overall, 10% of the students initiated smoking during the follow-up period. In the group where there was highest exposure to movie smoking, 17% (107) of students had initiated smoking, compared with only 3% (22) in the group least exposed to movie smoking. After controlling for baseline characteristics, adolescents in the group of highest exposure to movie smoking were 2·7 times more likely to initiate smoking compared with those in the lowest quartile. The effect of exposure to movie smoking was stronger in adolescents with non-smoking parents than in those whose parent smoked. In this study, 52·2% of smoking initiation can be attributed to exposure to smoking in movies.

The results provide strong evidence that viewing smoking in movies promotes smoking initiation among adolescents.

consumptions of tobacco and Tobacco Products is an integral part of  Indian Traditions and Customs. It is a problem that needs to be tackled seriously, And so I , Nimit jain want to draw your attention to a f ew of these traditions.( Please leave some suggestions on How to tackle the Problem as comments for the post.)

The Ruling class, and upper classes give Paan (a form of tobacco) to guests .

Hukka, beedi, tambaku etc. are being consumed since early times.

Smoking of cigars is taken as a SYMBOL OF POWER.

Hi, I am Nimit Jain of New Delhi, I would like to draw the attention of everyone, To a subject which is very well known all around the GLOBE — THE POWER OF CINEMA, THE ROLE OF MOVIES.

Cinema has played an important role in the life of each and every individual due to its mass appeal, easy accessibility. Fashion statements, Hairstyles, Inspirations, ideas, Entertainment, and good messages have all been provided to us by cinema. But at the same time, SMOKING, DRINKING OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES and DRUGS have also been shown in movies, This has influenced the YOUTH to take to these malpractices.

and so, I would humbly request and urge film makers to understand the power that a movie has and to use this power CAREFULLY

THANK YOU

In 2005, the then I&B Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said, “A cinematic classic like Shatranj ke Khiladi cannot be made without the hookah,” proposing an exemption for films based on literary classics.

This was followed by the health ministry’s proposal to ban smoking in films by notifying the Cigarette and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules 2005.

Despite, evoking the much debate on creative expression, the central government notified the ban in October 2006. But, director Mahesh Bhatt challenged the ruling in Delhi High court, and he was supported by many filmmakers. 

And, to their relief, in January 2009, the Delhi High Court quashed the central government’s notification banning on-screen smoking on grounds that it violates the fundamental rights of filmmakers. 

A single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said, “Banning smoking in films violated filmmakers’ fundamental rights of freedom of expression and speech as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Also, the film directors should not have multifarious authorities breathing down their necks when indulging in a creative act.” 

It is felt that in addition to creative expression, films depict reality of life and smoking plays a vital role in our daily lives. However, if there is a fear that such films will have a negative impact on young minds, then the decision to allow smoking or not in certain films, should be left to the Censor board. This clearly calls for responsible display of smoking and tobacco consumption in films.

Besides, constitutional or not, one cannot make Devdas without a bottle of alcohol in his hands or the modern day Dev D, without a puff of smoke. But, yes the ministry is not completely wrong with it tries to urge all of us to kick the butt on a more personal front. 

Lets take a look at some popular actresses smoking in Hollywood movies. This is not just used as advertisement techniques for a particular brand but to lure teenagers to this vice.