Thankfully Cinema is promoting 'No Smoking'

Anil Gulati
Smoking has become a symbol of elitist behaviour, especially among the college and university students. The role of cinema is crucial in this habit of the new generation as the youth smoke their way to stardom in the campus.

THE HEALTH MINISTER of India would be a happy man with this film. After all, he has been urging film industry not to smoke, at least on screen. Obviously he is right. Films, advertisements and celebrities do have a strong influence. In fact, recognising their power to influence, many developmental and social organisations globally and in India are using them to help promote positive behaviour. If they smoke, they tend to promote smoking as an acceptable behaviour. Fact of the matter is that smoking kills, though silently.

Just by printing pictorial and graphic warnings on the harmful effects of smoking on cigarette packets may not have a significant impact. The need is of more. As per one estimate, tobacco kills 8,00,000 Indians in a year and about four million people the world over. Estimates also tell us that approximately 1,60,000 people develop cancer each year as a result of tobacco consumption. Every year some 4.5 million Indian smokers suffer from angina or heart disease and about 3.9 million people get lung disease. The major concern is for youngsters, who get hooked on to smoking at an early age.

A survey conducted among 2599 college students in Delhi shows that two per cent of the surveyed students smoked their first cigarette before attaining even 10 years of age. The survey, conducted among the students of three colleges in the capital, also revealed that 61 per cent of them smoked for the first time while they were between 16 and 20 years of age. Exposure to smoking activities, easy availability of cigarettes in educational institutions and the message of smoking getting reinforced through films are the major contributors to the problem.

Thankfully, a film titled ‘No Smoking’ will hit the Indian cinema halls on October 29. Anurag Kashyap’s ‘No Smoking’ has John Abraham and Ayesha Takia in the lead roles. The film is supposed to be a surrealistic take on a smoker trying to quit the habit. Even the song tracks in the film are about the mental and physical state of the individual, who is completely dependent on smoking in spite of knowing well about its effects on his health and mind.

The song, ’Jab Bhi Cigarette’ is about the bygone days as the protagonist fills his ’ash tray’ with the remains of his cigarettes. Similarly, song tracks like ’Phoonk De’ and ’Kash Laga’ are centred on the subject of the film. We will have to wait to see how this film does at cinema halls. Whatever be its fate, the effort has to be complimented.

Meanwhile a good news on the same front is that the World Lung Foundation - South Asia (WLF-SA) has also begun work on a two year project to make the North Campus of Delhi University a ‘tobacco free’ area, a positive move that would help reduce smoking. The project needs to be replicated by other educational institutions in India.

The Bollywood-Hollywood marriage

Anil Gulati

Indian stars and filmmakers are not far from Hollywood. Hrithik is said to have signed a leading production, Adlabs and Hyde Park Entertainment are working in a co production and Sony Pictures is producing Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’.

THE BLUE-EYED Krish is planning to work on a Hollywood film in the near future. Media reports say that he has signed a deal with Brad Pitt’s management company Brillstein Grey Entertainment. Though there has been no official confirmation from him, and nor has he denied. His guarded response to media was: “If I get a script that really looks good, then I will”. While Hrithik will be possibly exploring himself in Hollywood, in Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt has come out with Zayed Khan’s venture ‘Speed’ which was released on Friday. Though the film is titled ’Speed’ but has picked up leads from Hollywood’s action packed thriller ’Cellular’ and another hit ’Nick of Time’. Urmila Matondkar has also acted in the movie.

On Hollywood - Bollywood connection, it may be worth to mention about the Ashok Amritraj’s and Adlabs’ new joint venture film, which will feature film actors from Hollywood and India. Hyde Park Entertainment, (Amritraj’s company) has announced the film titled ‘The Other End of the World’, which will be directed by Jimmy Dodson. It stars Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives), John Tucker (Must Die), Shriya Saran, Larry Miller (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Sara Foster (The Big Bounce), Anupam Kher and Tara Sharma.

While talking of the same connection it may be pertinent to mention about Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming romantic film ‘Saawariya’, which will be released near Diwali and is the first Indian film produced by a Hollywood company – Sony Pictures.

The power of Bollywood is also growing and probably that is the reason an American expensive watch company namely Swatch Group is eyeing the Indian film industry, to associate with Bollywood movies to promote its brand Hamilton, which has been featured in over 300 Hollywood movies.

The marriage of Hollywood and Bollywood brands is a win-win situation for all stakeholders – their economies, the industry, cast and crew of both the countries as well as the audience. This will also boost cultural and business relations between the countries and the people

Laughter shows crank up TRPs, dump wit

Anil Gulati

Laughter is a new cash cow these days for TV channels. Gone are the days when we had satirical kavi sammelans, it is day of gags, spoofs and slap stick comedy

THE INDIAN LAUGHTER CHALLENGE has a new look Shekar Suman, bustling Navjot Singh Sidhu and a brand new sponsor Britannia. The new avatar promises ’Purane Jokes Ab Aur nahi. TGILC 3- Naye Jokes Naya Talent.’ The show has got a new face Shonali Nagrani, along with Parizaad Kolah, as an anchor.

Thanks to the Laughter Challenge and its kick off, Sunil Pal, Raju Srivastava, Ehsan Qureshi, Bhagwant are household names today. These shows have brought them to fame. News channels for whom news (or so called breaking news!) was the buzz, comedy has become a new TRP puller. From late night (and weekened day time) crime capsules and horror capsules it is now over to comedy.

Aaj Tak uses Raju, while Star plus uses ‘Star’s one’ laughter challenge retakes. When we refer to these shows one needs to mention about Shekhar Suman’s (The Laughter Challenge Judge) ‘Poll Khol’ on Star Plus, probably the first one to kick off such shows on the news channels. NDTV’s ‘Gustakhi Maaf’ may have a special mention in all this as it stands out differently and still retains its original flavour, though it is majorily focused on politics, cricket and a bit of Bollywood.

In all this jhamela many old timers do feel that comedy is moving into the ‘remix zone’ and originality is just fading away. May be true, but presently it is attracting TRPs. TV critics add that days are not far when it gets staid and the cheap humour gets repetitive. There is indeed a growing need to bring something new or else it may loose excitement of viewers - which anyway is short lived!