NDTV.com: SRK claims smoking a 'creative liberty'

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SRK claims smoking a 'creative liberty'

Press Trust of India

Monday, January 28, 2008, (Mumbai)

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan cocked a snook at Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss for his appeal to him and other actors to quit smoking onscreen saying actors should not be asked to curb "creative liberties".

Shah Rukh took the cover of creative liberties while responding to Ramadoss's remarks that he and super star Amitabh Bachchan should stop setting a bad example by smoking in public and in films since "children have their first puff of cigarette due to celebrites."

" As filmmakers we should have creative liberties because cinema is all about make believe, Shah Rukh said a day after the remarks by Ramadoss, who has been campaigning for a ban on smoking in films.

The star however said he agreed with Ramadoss on his concern over an alarming increase in young people taking to smoking.

Ramadoss had said Shah Rukh should not have smoked in the stands while watching a cricket match in Mumbai and that he and Bachchan could learn a thing or two from superstar Rajinikant regarding smoking onscreen.

Shah Rukh (42) has earned the ire of anti-smoking groups on different occasions for lighting up in public in violation of a 2004 ban.

In October, the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication slapped a legal notice on Shah Rukh asking him to explain his actions after he was spotted smoking at a cricket match and at a media conference.

Defending himself, Shah Rukh had said that the cricket stadium where he was photographed smoking is a private club as it falls under the Cricket Club of India, moreover the actor noted that there wasn't a 'No Smoking Zone' specified in the area.

King Khan also said the Hindustan Times Summit where he was seen smoking was also a private function.

The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication had also filed a case against superstar Amitabh Bachchan after he was depicted smoking in an advertisement of electrical appliances.

That case is still on in the court.

"Again I would like to make an appeal, not only to Mr Shah Rukh Khan, but also to Amitabh Bachchan and to all the other personalities. Children are being affected," Ramadoss told the CNN-IBN television news channel on Sunday.

Ramadoss said he was "very concerned about (the) alarming rise of incidences of young people getting addicted to tobacco."

The minister said his plea was for an end to smoking "in public but also in the movies."

"There shouldn't be any smoking scenes in movies because we have statistics showing that 52 per cent of children have their first puff of cigarette due to movie celebrities," the minister said.

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