Indian cinema continues to glorify smoking

In India, the action film KGF Chapter 2, whose trailer released on January 7, 2021 on YouTube has garnered more than 130 million views, is the subject of criticism from the Ministry of Health, which considers that the main actor advocates smoking.[1].

Following the announcement of the film 'KGF Chapter 2' in India marked by a heavy presence of tobacco, the anti-tobacco cell of the Karnataka state health department has issued a show-cause notice to the film's lead actor, director and producer. According to the public officials, the images showing the actor smoking a cigarette promote smoking and violate Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (also known as the COTPA 2003).

A request to remove the teaser from online platforms as well as the film's posters promoting smoking has been made. The texts provide for an on-screen warning with the words "Smoking is harmful to health" in the event of smoking scenes encouraging consumption. However, neither the teaser nor the advertising posters have affixed such a message. The teaser depicts the actor blowing up a row of cars with a machine gun and lighting a cigarette with the heated barrel of the weapon.

Bollywood has a long history of depicting heroes and villains with cigarettes or hand-rolled bidis. India produces over 1,000 films a year in multiple languages, which are distributed in several countries, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe. The global audience for Bollywood films has been estimated at around 3 billion.

Fragile and poorly respected regulations in the country

According to a WHO study[2] As of 2002, tobacco was present in 76% of Bollywood films. A 2020 study[3] which analyzed 300 Indian films, points out that 70% of them contained at least one smoking scene. This slight decrease could be explained by the implementation of the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Advertising and Promotion.

Proposed by the Health Ministry in May 2005, a ban on showing actors smoking in films and television shows came into force on 2 October 2005 but the Delhi High Court later struck down the ban in January 2009, saying the ban was a form of censorship that curtailed the right to freedom of expression. In October 2012[4], India implemented new rules on the depiction of tobacco products, tobacco brands and tobacco use in domestic and foreign films and television programmes. A film or television programme with tobacco images must now carry a 100-second on-screen health message designed by the government, with health warnings below the smoking scenes. Despite these bans, there were circumvention processes and tobacco use was still implied in films and television, even if it was not explicitly shown.

Smoking at the cinema directly influences smoking rates among young people

Studies have shown a strong relationship between exposure to tobacco at the movies and the initiation of smoking among adolescents. Young people aged 10 to 14, who are often exposed to films containing scenes of tobacco use, are 2.6 times more likely[5] to start smoking than low-exposure youth. Viewing smoking scenes in films is associated with more positive attitudes toward smoking and the perception that most adults smoke[6]. Product placements are remembered by people exposed to the scenes and subsequently influence their relationship with the brand and consumers' purchasing intentions. Product placement (behavioral) is most effective when the brand plays a active role in the film, for example when the smoker takes out his cigarette at a particularly critical moment in the film.

Keywords: India, Bollywood, Tobacco, Cinema©Tobacco Free Generation

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[1] Laiqh A. Khan, Objection to smoking visuals in KGF Chapter 2 teaser, January 12, 2021 accessed January 14, 2021[2] Bollywood victim or ally: a study on the portrayal of tobacco in Indian cinema, World Health Organization, 2003[3] Ailsa J. McKay,Nalin Singh Negi,Nandita Murukutla, and al., Trends in tobacco, alcohol and branded fast-food imagery in Bollywood films, 1994-2013, PLOS One Journal, May 29, 2020, https://doi.org /10.1371/journal.pone.0230050[4] Stanton Glantz, India's strong policy to protect the public from onscreen smoking is under attack, University of California San Francisco, August 4, 2016, accessed January 14, 2021[5] Sargent JD, Beach ML Adachi-Mejia AM, Gibson JJ, Titus-Ernstoff LT, Carusi CP, Swain SD, Heatherton TF, Dalton MA (2005), Exposure to movie smoking: its relation to smoking initiation among US adolescents, Pediatrics, 116(5), 1183-91.[6] Sargent JD, Beach ML, Dalton MA, Mott LA, Tickle JJ, Ahrens MB, Heatherton TF. Effect of seeing tobacco use in films on trying smoking among adolescents: cross sectional study. BMJ. 2001 Dec 15;323(7326):1394-7. doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7326.1394. PMID: 11744562; PMCID: PMC60983.National Committee Against Smoking |