Smoking scenes banned in films

Published June 2, 2005

NEW DELHI: India has banned smoking scenes in movies and on television, saying they glamorise the use of cigarettes but the move has angered filmmakers in the prolific Bollywood movie industry.

In tough new regulations, the health ministry said distributors and directors would have to show health warnings on screens in old movies and TV shows, whether Indian or foreign, that showed actors smoking.

“(There would have to be a) mandatory display of a prominent scroll containing a health warning in programmes containing scenes with smoking situations that have been produced before this notification,” a ministry statement said on Wednesday. —Reuters

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