Javed Akhtar calls for changes in anti-smoking law

London: Poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar and filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj have called on the Indian health ministry to re-invent their anti-smoking strategy with regard to films.

"Films seem to be everyone's favourite whipping boy. This idea of having a caption on the screen every time an actor is seen smoking is immature and childish, and in fact futile.

"More importantly, there should be stronger measures in place to ensure there are no cigarette shops near schools and colleges. The ban in public places needs to be enforced more strictly," Akhtar told PTI at a fundraiser here on Thursday in aid of the not-for-profit cancer hospital Tata Medical Centre.

"Countries like the US have succeeded in making it so difficult to smoke in public that people have been forced to give up. Smoking on screen is not targeted in America, if the film demands it," he added.

He was joined by wife and actress Shabana Azmi, who was the key narrator of a musical show titled 'Uff Yoo Maa', which helped raise nearly 150,000 pounds for the Kolkata-based hospital.

"It is a fact that smoking is a major cause behind cancer deaths and the problem needs to be tackled better. If anything, that caption on screen during a film is very distracting and just brings smoking more to one's attention," she said.

A ban on on-screen smoking by actors and actress had been over-turned by the Indian courts in 2009 as a form of censorship but the Indian health ministry now requires filmmakers to give a 20-second anti-smoking statutory warning every time a character is seen smoking on screen. Vishal Bhardwaj, who had composed a humorous anti-tobacco song as part of his last release 'Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola' earlier this year, believes it is also important the health awareness campaigns run by the government are made more engaging.

"Years ago we had actors endorsing cigarettes and it had a different perception. Today there is a lot more awareness on the issue of smoking but the public interest adverts need to have more aesthetics to have any impact. The moment something is done in an entertaining rather than preachy way, it immediately has a greater impact."

"At the moment, you just want to shut your eyes and not watch these adverts," said Bhardwaj, who also endorsed the Tata Medical Centre cause during a brief visit to London.