Former Health Minister Appeals Indian Actor Dhanush To Quit Smoking On Screen

In the interest of youngsters’ health, former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss urged Tamil actor Dhanush to give up smoking on screen.He said it would have an adverse impact on his fan following who were typically youngsters after seeing Dhanush's on-screen smoking in his recent Tamil movie 'Maari'. In a letter to actor Dhanush he said, "Considering the welfare of Tamil Nadu's youngsters, you must give up on-screen smoking and should also announce that you will refrain from doing it on screen now onwards," which was released to the media.

He urged the actor to follow the footseps of his father-in-law and Tamil superstar Rajinikanth stopped smoking on screen few years ago, besides appealing to his fans to give up the habit. Also all the leading actors like Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Surya and Vikram have agreed to not act in such scenes, said the former Union Health Minister.

Tobacco use is dangerous and refraining from smoking on screen was good for his health, argued Ramadoss with the help of few medical studies. On screen smoking by film personalities will create an impact on the youth and it eventually lead to a rise in smoking habit among them, according to studies and findings from medical journal Lancet and the World Health Organization.

A Kerala High Court verdict said smoking scenes in films were an indirect form of advertisement for tobacco use which must be stopped.

Source-Medindia