The Hindu : We'll wage war on use of tobacco: film industry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

We'll wage war on use of tobacco: film industry

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI JUNE 7. Actors, song writers, musicians, producers and other film personalities today pledged war on tobacco in the presence of hundreds of students who gathered here to observe the `No Tobacco Day'. Participating in an event at the Madras University that had all the glitter of a film premiere, the lyricist, Vairamuthu; the producer Keyar, the actors, S.Ve.Sekar, Vijay Adhiraj, and other artistes extended support to phase out the glamourisation of cigarettes in Tamil cinema. Though actors Kamal Hassan and Parthiban were not present, the programme included video clippings of them speaking against use of tobacco and tobacco-based products.

The support of film artistes had been sought in line with the World Health Organisation's `No Tobacco Day' theme for 2003: Tobacco-free film and fashion. Delivering her inaugural address, V. Shantha, chairperson of the Cancer Institute, said advertisements and superstars played a major role, ``subconsciously and insidiously'', in the promotion of tobacco products. Many surveys had established that adolescents were influenced towards smoking by films and actors, she said, adding, ``A king-sized cigarette is a king-sized killer.''

Besides the backing of film stars, the sustained support of the Government was vital in the fight against tobacco-caused cancer and related ailments, Dr. Shantha said.

The Union Joint Secretary of Public Health, Bhavani Thyagarajan, said the Centre would soon enact legislation to restrict promotion of tobacco products and curb the sale of such products to minors. However, she said the Act would be effective only if the role models passed on the anti-tobacco message to their fans.

The Union Minister of State for Health, A. Raja, said while the Government reaped only about Rs.550 crores from the tobacco industry, it spent about Rs.35,000 crores in treating those affected by the products.

Standing against the backdrop of a clapboard that said, `In real life there are no retakes', Vairamuthu compared cigarette packs to coffins, and drew the attention of the cheering students to the addictive nature of nicotine in cigarettes. He asked them to draw pleasure from the various arts instead of from smoking. An audiocassette with an anti-tobacco theme song and a documentary were released on the occasion, which was also laced with a tobacco-free theme dance and a fashion show.

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