I am not sure if read this right - but if it is true i think it is probably the most daring yet stupid thing they have done. I always wonder what it means to have "freedom" in an indian democracy !

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1399854,0050.htm



The government on Wednesday banned the depiction of smoking in movies made after October 2. But films showing an historical era or personality smoking will be exempted from the ban.

An understanding to this effect was reached after a hour-and-a-half meeting between Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy and Health Minister A Ramadoss, who had taken the initiative, which evoked reservations in some quarters.

"We have reached a complete understanding about the manner in which we should go about... The ban on smoking scenes in new films and TV serials will be effective from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi," said Reddy.

The Minister, however, said that exceptions would be made in case of "situations such as treatment of historical personality, historical period and social messaging against smoking itself."

Justifying the government decision, Reddy said, "There can't be two views on need to restrict, de-glamourise and discourage smoking scenes."

"Therefore, we have agreed to impose obligation on theatre owners to show warning slides when such scenes are being shown," he added.

In case of old TV serials, he said the responsibility devolved on the broadcasters. "They will be required to put out scrolls (during the objectionable scenes) to warn of consequences of smoking," he added.

The Minister said in case of Live telecast "there are inseparable technical hurdles."

"We drew the attention of the health Ministry to this," Reddy pointed out, though adding that in case of deferred telecast, broadcasters will be required to warn people through scrolling.

Asked how the government planned to control channels uplinking from abroad, he said the issue would be taken care of in the downlinking policy the government is currently drafting.

The Minister said penalties for theatre owners who fail to ahdere to the ban ran up to two years imprisonment.


For the record i am a non-smoker

why are you mockin (it sounds like you are mockin ) Indian Democracy? It's corrupt, sure. but which democracy isn't? Personally, I hate democracy. Humans aren't intelligent enough to make rational decisions. What we need is a Daddy Maharaja that will kick our butts around every now and then

Democracy in America = socialists ruining your so called freedom. Can't piss, can't smoke, can't drink, can't sh*t, can't beat the living patoots out of your children (I don't have any, but if I did, I OWN THEM! ), can't drive (illegal immigrants in So Cal usin up all our fiscal resources), can't get high, can't listen to loud music, can't breathe. Yeah, India has it good baby, for what it can afford. Plenty a freedom.

I don't like banning cigs in films, but are they banning BeeDee(sp) too? Imagine 'D'eshu with a beedee?? very debonair!

I can't imagine anything more stupid than this whole idea. It ranks worse than even the ban on alchohol depiction in films by Morarji Desai. This ranks right up there with the withdrawal tax introduced by this same government. One thing is very clear now, the current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is definately the worst Prime Minister India has ever had. The current administration must also rank amongst one of the most dumb and stupid asministrations.

As for the issue of Indian democracy, it is becoming harder and harder by the day to believe that we have one in this country. Anarchy would be a more appropriate description actually.

Of course I am mocking democracy but I am thankful it exist, cant imagine living in North Korea, Iran or even Pakistan - no offense guys . What I don’t like is when the government "imposes" restriction on freedom of speech and expressions esp. when they brand it "for the larger interest of progressive society" - that’s what I can't tolerate.

As for the Smoking Ban - you can never get rid of the habit unless people consciously quit. Its relevance to cinema is so important - it does give character an edge, an extra dimension to play with.

Does this mean old films that were RELEASED(classics?) prior to the ban will not be allowed for exhibition after the ban?? *eek* there were so many cigs in 'D' I had to go pick up a pack for myself! heh

I think film makers should add a Caution message before the start of the film, or even an ad about the health dangers of smoking, instead of during the scene itself. But I guess this is just too smart.

I figured you smoke I welcomed this idea, because my 13 year old cousin keep his pencil and pose as if he is smoking. Want to know where he keeps the pencil, in his collar (Thirumalai). So this smoke will become fire soon.

BTW what has this ban to do with PM? Which PM do you prefer over Dr Manmohan, LPY or Narasimharao or Sonia or Indra or Rajeev Gandhi or Deva Gauda (If you dont remember, he is the ONLY PM who was litering on the street!!! when his pictuer was taken! This was on the front page of Hindu and I saved this picture). These decisions are made by censor and not by PM. At last we have a PM who doesnt know politics and this is good.

I am not 100% sure how they are handling this , but i guess the old films will have a warning before the movie starts



Wow now you made me into a smoker - for the record I don’t smoke . I can see how your kids get influenced, in fact when I was a kid - the fake cigarettes candies (how many remember that ?) were my fav and astonishingly enough my parents would get them for me ! . In school/college pretty much all my friends smoked - I made a conscious decision not to do so and so far I am sticking with it . I think kids can be "smart" enough to make a conscious decision and stick with it and parents can help them achieve it. At the end of the day if they like to smoke - so be it, everyone has their own way of "smoking time away" and they have every right to do so. I have no problems with smoking ( or any other habit) as long as they don’t do it in my face

It has everything to do with the PM. Since the Prime Minister is the head of the cabinet, any and all decisions taken by any and all ministries, are by default the responsibility of the PM. Technically, no policy can be changed or approved withot the consent of the head of the cabinet, which is the Prime Minister. But then again, since Dr. Manmohan Singh does not have any free time due to his primary job as secretary to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi it would not be fair to expect him to know what is going on with his government. After all, he has more important work to do, like go see Mrs. Gandhi off at the airport, and then go receive her upon her return etc. I wonder if anyone in the PMO has bothered to remind him, that he is atleast in name, the Prime Minister of the country and that it is against all protocol for him to be going to the airport to send off or receive anyone other than the President of India or other foreign dignitaries and that too only those of equal and/or higher rank. The Prime Minister's post/office has been reduced to nothing more than that of the secratary to the Congress president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Manmohan Singh may be an honest and intelligent man but that does not change the fact that he is also the one man that has done more damage to the Prime Minister's post than any other PM in history. I am certainly not a fan of most of the ex Prime Ministers that you have mentioned, but atleast none of them were just figure heads. Also none of them ever placed their party over the country and office that they represent. Dr. Manmohan Singh's actions in addition to the lack of actions, are an insult to the whole nation and to the very concept of democracy. Personally, I was thrilled when he was chosen to be PM, rather than Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, but now I think I would have preferred it the other way around and this is inspite of me being very strongly against the idea of a foreigner leading our country. You say, that it is good that India has a PM that does not know politics, well the fact is, politics is all that Dr. Manmohan Singh has done since he became PM. He has openly even admitted going back on his basic principles and beliefs to retain the support of the Left (Communist) parties for the sake of power.

Coming back to the topic at hand, this decision is not that of the Censor Board, they do not even have the authority to make policy, rather it is a decision made by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry at the behest of the Health Ministry, or should I say Health Minister since this is no more than an attempt of an individual to grab the headlines. In fact, the Censor Board had objected to this ban and expressed it's inability to enforce the provisons of the ban. It is only after the Censor Board chair person, Mrs. Sharmila Pataudi vehemnetly opposed the ban, that the I&B ministry has slightly diluted the provisions of the ban. Indian democracy is a joke, given the fact that any one person in the administration can, and that too without any public or parliamentary debate, make and pass laws that have far reaching impact on the civil rights of the people. What next, a ban on alcohol? Or will it stop with, no more depicting of rape, murder, dowry, robbery, corruption ............ the list could go on and on and on? In fact if one were to follow the logic behind this, if at all there is a logic to begin with, then there should be warnings like "Murder is injurious to health (whose health)?", "rape is illegal" etc. Come on !!!! don't you think there is something wrong here. Because if not, then why even stop here, just as some fools are against Christian missionaries working in India, why not ban the depiction of religion in movies, theater, tv? After all, one could argue that the depiction of religion is a promotion of that particular faith. The funny or not so funny thing about this is, that it is alright for a movie maker to depict the use of drugs, since most drugs are taken by simply inhaling or injecting them. Now I wonder what is more dangerous, depiciton of drug use or smoking, let alone the fact that the latter is not even illegal while the former is. If the government is really so serious about health and the ills of smoking then why don't they simply ban all tobacco product sales? I'll tell you why, because they need the money from the taxes generated for them to further splurge on subsidies and free giveaways for polictical reasons.

As per the provisions of the now slightly modified law:

The ban on smoking on screen will now apply only to films made after October 2, 2005.

However, films that depict a historical era or personality will be exempt from this ban. The ban also extends to television serials.

No new films and tv serials can now show people smoking.

Old films and serials which show men and women smoking will have to run an anti-smoking scroll during the duration of the scene.

Live broadcasts will be exempt from this ban.

By the way, there is no mention of how this law effects non Indian films made after October 2, 2005. Also there is no clarity on what they mean by 'Made after October 2, 2005'. Does it mean 'Released after October 2, 2005' or does it mean, films that 'start production after October 2, 2005'. I presume they probably mean 'Released after October 2, 2005. But then what happens to movies that may have already shot substantial portions or may already be complete but not yet released? Also, has anyone given a thought as to, who is going to bear the cost of adding the warning scroll to the thousands and thousands of old films.

PS: The law has a provision of two years jail term for each instance of failure to comply of these provisions by the cinema owners. Damn, I'm glad I am not a cinema owner in India. But still, as a DVD library owner I am seriously worried about the impact of this new law on myself and my business.

Wow Great post Sanjay ( for this alone I will make sure I see Parineeta this weekend )

I was/am happy to see India being lead by a scientist and a professor - learned/responsible/intelligent people at the top and on another plane you feel that the "system does work". I hear your complaints ( which is much bigger than the issue at hand) and acknowledge it. But I wonder ( not knowing the current political scenario) - who else could be the PM ??.





In all my naïvety- I am not sure how this will affect you

Initially I also was more than thrilled upon the selection of our current President and Prime Minister. But alas, they both also turned out to be the biggest dissapoinments ever, simply because of the expectations that one had from two persons with such illustrious backgrounds and history. But, they are even bigger dissapointments for the fact, that both are totally ineffective and irrelevant in the current government. Previous Presidents have also mostly been like this and also due to the very nature of the President's job as defined under the constitution, Dr. Kalam may be excused. Although to be honest, I myself had expected/hoped for Dr. Kalam to be different from the rest and be more pro active. As for Dr. Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, I am sorry to say he is a total failure. It is not so much for what he has done, but rather it is the very lack of any participation in the government, that makes him the worst ever Prime Minister in my book. Regarding what you said, "I was/am happy to see India being lead by a scientist and a professor - learned/responsible/intelligent people at the top", it would have been great, but unfortunately Dr. Manmohan Singh is not really at the top, but rather he is there only in name.


DVD is just a medium to store the movies that we rent and it seems quite logical that if the new law takes effect, it would also apply to home video, just as all other censor board laws. If indeed that is the case then who and how would we add the 'warning scrolls' to the scenes in old films depicting smoking? It would be one more thing for the authorities to use to harass us and try to make some money.

I hear you man - it sucks. It is a very stupid decision - where do they get these ideas i wonder, must be attending special late night school for retarded politicians