A child studies Vivek Oberoi in a poster of Company and (below) Sunjay Dutt in Musafir

Salman?s hairdo, SRK?s kurtis, Sunjay?s tattoos, John?s vroom and along with all these, a long drag. Confused? Well, don?t be, it?s just the description of most of the Indian youths today, who are under the heavy influence of Bollywood.

Smoking has beeen given a shot in the arm by Bollywood ?role models? who set a fashion streaking, state the anti-smoking groups and plead with the filmmakers to cut the smoke out of their reels. The Indian youth?s style statements are nothing but the derivatives of cinema. Indian stars have always had the ?lure? factor and many of them lack the moral or ethical fibre to not at least pose in photoshoots with the cancer stick dangling from their lips. Impressionable youths are still too fashion struck and GenX given to even more blind aping, which sadly includes the whirl of smoke created onscreen. According to a recent study report given by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Bollywood to a large extent is responsible for glamourising the cancer stick.

Idolising the stars has always been one of the favourite hobbies of the millions of cinegoers, and they are getting younger by the generation. From the wardrobes to the dialect, the fans imbibe every bit of the star persona. Likewise, be it Shah Rukh Khan or John Abraham, Sunjay Dutt or Saif Ali Khan, a cigarette between their fingers or lips has always inspired their fans to follow suit and mimic these moves. ?If they see their Bollywood idol smoking onscreen they often presume that like the T-shirts and the ornaments the star wears, onscreen smoking too is cool,? says a child psychologist. Bollywood filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, whose recent film Elaan showed John Abraham smoking onscreen, says, ?It?s not a conscious decision to promote smoking, nor am I in favour of glamourising smoking among the youth. I have always used cigarettes to prove character flaws in my films.?

Even director Sanjay Gupta of Musafir agrees with Bhatt: ?I myself am a non-smoker, but showing a negative character smoke in the films just supports the fact that they are evildoers and by showing this I am sure I am not promoting smoking in my films. The fact that negative characters smoke itself proves that smoking is something that anyone shouldn?t follow.? He adds, ?In fact, Musafir was the first film in Bollywood to display a warning stating that smoking is harmful.?

While the anti-smoking NGOs are fuming with anger, Suniel Shetty addresses them by saying, ?I know it?s a serious issue which needs to be taken care of. But instead of holding films responsible why don?t we focus on the fact that most of the stars who smoke in reel life are actually non-smokers in real life?? But little does Suniel knows that the youths today strictly follow the mantra ? seeing is believing.

?I plead to all my fellow costars to quit smoking onscreen as they have a powerful impact on the youth of today,? says Tusshar Kapoor, who has taken time out to be part of a documentary, which will speak out against smoking. In fact, he and a few others spent an entire day shooting with Dr Raj Bothra, who is associated with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Apparently the DVD, titled Evils of Tobacco, also has an anti-smoking message from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in it. According to Urmila Matondkar, who has also recently joined an anti-smoking campaign, ?There was a perception that an artiste is not creative unless he smokes, but that?s what it is ? a perception.?

Even Vivek Oberoi, who made a style statement in Company with his cigarette smoking style, took to the anti-smoking stand after he realised the bad influence he was having on his fans. Vivek had figured among top three filmstars from Mumbai who acted in the maximum number of scenes which show them smoking! The other two were Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgan. Shah Rukh?s personal style of almost chain smoking should puff some sense into his head, for his son?s Aryan?s sake, at least.

But after the study was made public, Vivek took an anti-smoking stand. He said darna zaroori hai to the ill effects of tobacco by campaigning against its use on World No Tobacco Day on May 31. Vivek doesn?t smoke in real life and also is perpetually trying to persuade his movie directors not to make him smoke onscreen. So when at least there are actors like Vivek Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar, who show some sense at the theatres, there is still something to feel good about at the movies!

(Leisure Media News)