Actor Mammootty said here on Thursday that he would try to avoid doing film scenes that tended to promote the use of liquor and drugs.
The actor was speaking to presspersons after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy released a 40-second film—‘Say No to Drinks; Say No to Drugs'—made by him as part of a campaign by the Excise Department.
“I am trying my best. I will,” Mr. Mammootty said, adding that the situations in some films required scenes where characters tended to endorse drinking.
Mr. Mammootty contributed the short film to the campaign free of charge, as promised on a previous occasion. He urged that schools and their neighbourhoods should be free of drugs and liquor. Intoxication increased criminal tendencies, he said.
The Chief Minister said he had written to school authorities that the campaign against the use of liquor and drug abuse should begin from the schools. Stringent action would be taken against sale of liquor and drugs near schools.
Excise Minister K. Babu said the film would be screened in schools and theatres. Clubs had been formed in schools to campaign against the use of liquor and drugs and the State-level inauguration of their functioning would be held shortly, he added.
The Minister said the sale of liquor from the beverages corporation outlets had gone up during the Onam festival because the Excise Department had strongly cracked down on the sale of illicit liquor.
