Anurag Kashyap, whose next film Ugly, is ready for release, is still fighting his battle with the Bombay High Court, that refused to grant any interim relief to him.
Anurag had petitioned the court challenging the notification of making anti-smoking disclaimer mandatory during smoking scenes in films.
He explains, “After the court case was deferred, a pending case in the Supreme Court took longer that we thought. My fight will continue but my movie will release.” He adds, “I am yet to feel like we are living in a democracy.
That word is only on paper. You can’t say anything here and we are an easily offended country. I find it insulting to see an anti-smoking logo in a film.”
Anurag’s biggest movie till date Bombay Velvet will also be affected by the decision of the court. And it’s a larger loss given the fact even that the film has many smoking scenes.
“It’s not about BV or Ugly but about every single film. I don’t like to see my work being bastardised by some kind of agenda, which is not my responsibility. I don’t say smoking is good for health, it’s terrible.
I have struggled with it. But if it’s really a big concern, then ban the tobacco industries. But you know well that it’s no use fighting the tobacco or alcohol lobby, because the largest revenue comes from them. You won’t ban it but you want Anurag Kashyap to bear the brunt of what you are unable to do. That’s what bothers me.”
However, the filmmaker does have a solution in mind. He says, “Let the health ministry, I&B ministry and the film industry sit together and acknowledge the problem.
An issue needs to be addressed with dialogue. They decided to make these sub-standard no-smoking films, which people laugh at. They have no impact.
Make it compulsory for theatres to play them. But don’t put the burden on filmmakers to attach it with the movie. Javed Akhtar saab said, 8-10 filmmakers should make one film each and let the theatre owners chose which one they want to play.”
