Bollywood films with smoking scenes will have to run an anti-smoking scroll. The Law Ministry has upheld the Health Ministrys position on the issue,and said that last years notification which required films to run a scroll on the harmful effects of smoking throughout the duration of a smoking scene,stands valid. The Law Ministry has clarified the matter with the I&B Ministry which has denied having giving out any order,keeping the Health Ministrys notification in abeyance. The Law Ministry has said that our notification on the anti-smoking ticker in films with smoking scenes does withstand legal scrutiny and therefore industry will have to comply. Following reports of the I&B Ministry having kept our notification in abeyance with an order in March we clarified that as well. They have denied any such order, said an official dealing with tobacco control. The upholding of the notification also makes it mandatory for old films to carry at least a disclaimer if not a voice over during the smoking scenes,the official added. Civil society organisations have been crying foul over the impasse on the implementation of the notification and there have been surveys cited to show that films trigger smoking habit in many children. The governments own survey done along with WHO puts the figure at 52 per cent. The matter of the anti-smoking ticker during the film and a no-smoking message at the beginning/ end/ interval has had the Health and I&B ministries at loggerheads for many months now with Bollywood biggies petitioning the latter that this interfered with their creative independence. The Health Ministry stood its ground through an earlier observation from the Law Ministry when it had held that it was not possible to take a position in the matter as it is sub-judice a term that left the Health Ministry groping for answers as officers clarified that the matter was not pending in any court. The file was sent to the Law Ministry for the second time with Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad seeking specifically the opinion of Law Minister Salman Khurshid. It is only after that move a couple of months ago that the Health Ministry finally seems to have obtained Law Ministrys backing for its notification and reportedly earned it the sympathy of the I&B Ministry. Buoyed by this victory,the Health Ministry is setting new targets for itself. The young audience that we are trying to target through this notification get swayed much more by foreign films. We will look at ways to get a similar thing started in foreign films too, the official said.
