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‘Badhaai Ho’ slapped with legal notice over smoking scenes

With rules and regulations regarding film making becoming tighter, the makers of the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Badhaai Ho’ (2018) have been issued with a legal notice but the Delhi Government over the use of smoking a cigarette advertising throughout the film.

According to Hindustan Times, the makers have broken Section 5 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA). Talking to the media was S.K. Arora, Additional Director (Public Health) and State Tobacco Control Officer, who explained, “here are repeated scenes of smoking and of a tobacco shop. There are scenes displaying brands of tobacco products. The brand promotion of tobacco products — direct and indirect — are banned under section 5 of COTPA. Our legal notice is based on these things.”

“The legal notice to the director, producers and actors of Badhaai Ho has been issued because there has been promotion of a tobacco brand as well as surrogate advertisement repeatedly. We demand the immediate removal of these scenes from the film,” he went on to add.

Apparently, this is not something new to the Indian film industry. In light of actors being role models, they have been made aware of not to be bad influences.”We wrote to Bollywood a number of times regarding this. Bollywood stars and films are role models for youngsters. The youngsters follow their habits and copy it blindly. Bollywood should decide to think on moral grounds and should feel responsible for the people. The script can always be changed for the interest of the public,” Arora went on to say.

It looks like filmmakers are going to have to be a lot more creative in their props, stories and story telling.

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