“Smoking and drinking are injurious to health,” announces an actor (as a statutory warning) every time before a film starts. However, whenever a film’s publicity is in question, the posters showing these stars smoking are widely circulated, mostly without a warning.
Take for example the first look poster of Nenu Local, which shows the protagonist Nani stylishly lighting a cigar. The opening anti smoking disclaimer for the film says ‘Cigarette taagakandi. Potharu’, which has been voiced by Nani. While it has been repeatedly researched and said that actors who smoke for their roles in movies influence teens to follow suit, Trinadha Rao Nakkina, the director of Nenu Local begs to differ. “Nenu Local is purely an attitude driven film and ‘Attitude is everything’ is the film’s tagline. We want to stay as true as possible to Nani’s character, so we have released such posters. Moreover, the audiences have become sensible, they don’t get influenced by whatever a hero does on screen,” he explains.
Nandamuri Balakrishna
Beedilu thaagandi babulu, thaagi swargaanni thakandi babulu (smoke cigarettes and experience heaven) is a famous number from Nandamuri Balakrishna’s yesteryear film Top Hero. In fact, posters of Balayya smoking are released for most of his films, including his upcoming action-drama Paisa Vasool.
Tottempudi Gopichand
A poster of Nithiin’s film LIE, which hit theatres on Friday, also features the actor enjoying a cigar and the same is true for Gopichand’s poster for Gautham Nanda.
In 2012, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) made it mandatory for films containing smoking scenes to add statutory warnings for at least 20 seconds. However, there is no such rule applicable to film posters. However, a few filmmakers are including it, like in the case of Nenu Local. “Theatrical trailers and films are routed through the CBFC, but unfortunately, for wall posters we don’t have the authority to exercise control; it’s only the film chamber that exercises control over such things,” says a CBFC official who wishes to remain anonymous.
Filmmakers target such posters mainly for the Internet because there’s no censorship required for online content. Speaking about the issue, actor Nani says, “Cinema is all about storytelling, so we shall only reflect the happenings in the society to make a realistic film. We don’t create anything new, but might take cinematic liberty. These smoking and drinking scenes were part of cinema even during the ’90s and ’80s, but without a statutory warning. But modern heroes are trying to avoid such scenes as much as possible.”
“We try not to use such posters, but sometimes it is inevitable because of the nature of the on-screen characters. But I am a responsible actor and I voice the statutory warning (before the film begins) in my own style for greater impact,” adds the actor.
Rana Daggubati
In his latest film, Nene Raju Nene Mantri, a poster shows Rana Daggubati smoking with an air of arrogance and swag around him, indifferent to the gallows beside him. “It (smoking) is just shown to project the fierce outlook and arrogance of Jogendra. But personally, I don’t drink or smoke in real life, and I’m someone who always believes in making healthy choices,” says Rana.
Muthyala Ramdas, Secretary, Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce says that the publicity clearance will be given to the films after due diligence. “We give clearance to the film’s publicity material after thoroughly going through the content, especially if the poster contains explicit content. Sometimes, we end up seeing several posters and hoardings, which don’t have permissions, and the CBFC also raises objections during this time. I feel a statutory warning (in the film) isn’t enough and a stringent law should be brought in.”
