Indian cancer surgeon's open letter to Mr Woody Allen

Woody Allen refused to allow the release of his comedy-drama Blue Jasmine in India because he objected to the anti-tobacco ads required by the Indian government to play before and during movies that features characters smoking. It caused quite a media storm with many from Bollywood including the likes of Kabir Bedi and Shoojit Sircar who felt these ads infringe the freedom of expression of filmmakers. In reply, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, a cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, who deals with cancer patients every single day and is a vehement anti-tobacco campaigner, writes an open letter to the talented director. Also Read - 'Casual' smokers may also have nicotine addiction: Home remedies to help you quit smoking

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Dear Mr Woody Allen, Also Read - Smoking cigarettes can worsen ‘severity of COVID-19 infection’

I am a cancer surgeon working in a premier cancer centre in Mumbai named Tata Memorial Hospital. Your movie Blue Jasmine did not release in India because you are against the Indian law that requires cinemas to run a scroll and play an educational clip in films that feature smoking scenes. You refused to make ‘customisations’ and this led the distributor PVR Pictures to cancel the release. You seem to have given voice to several disgruntled Bollywood people for whom ‘freedom of expression’ is superior to ‘the right to live’.

Your spokesman told Reuters: ‘Due to content in the film, it cannot be shown in India in its intended manner. Therefore, the film is not scheduled to play there.’ On behalf of tobacco victims and the entire medical community, I express my deepest sense of appreciation for not releasing your movie in India because it may have added a few thousand new smokers to the ever-growing tribe of youngsters picking up this deadly habit daily. However, I find your stance disturbing since you’re such an influential and talented individual. Here are ten questions I have for you and your ‘right to freedom of expression’ supporters:

Would you condemn millions to death?

Any sensible man will say ‘no’. Then how can you promote smoking to millions of vulnerable youngsters across the world? You once said in one of your speeches, ‘More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.’ I do believe we’re at a similar crossroad when it comes to tobacco use. It’s the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction. In fact, in your country, tobacco use is responsible for more deaths than World War II, HIV/AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, accidents, homicide and suicide combined*! Don’t you think it’s our responsibility to protect our forthcoming generations from the ill-effects of tobacco use?

*(Source: American Lung Association)

Shouldn’t you respect the law of the land?

Any new law follows a complicated and long process that considers opinions of all sections of society who are impacted by it. After intense negotiations, consultations and discussions the Indian Government agreed to mandate such warnings in the public interest. Shouldn’t you respect the law of the land?

Is smoking really necessary to express emotions and creativity?

While it’s estimated that tobacco will kill one billion people in this century, you are defending smoking as expression of creativity and artistic freedom. I refuse to believe that a talented actor requires a cigarette to express his emotions and creativity? Are your directorial skills so low that you need smoking scenes to make your movies more popular and profitable? In your own words ‘Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.’ Have you considered how imitable smoking thus becomes for viewers?

Have you considered the impact cinema has on people?

Compared to rest of the world, cinema has got tremendous influence in India. Indian actors are treated like gods and some of them even have temples dedicated to them. When superstar Amitabh Bachchan, suffered a near-fatal accident while filming Coolie, thousands of his fans prayed and fasted for him to get better. When Aamir Khan (you must have heard of him, he was on the cover of Time magazine) shaved his head in Ghajini, many of his fans got their heads shaved to emulate him. Actors in India tremendously influence the day-to-day behaviour of Indian youth. Their positive portrayal of smoking is bound to make positive impact on their followers. Even superstar Rajnikanth, who has a massive fan following in the southern part of our country and was famous for flipping a cigarette and catching it in his lips (something millions of our youngsters try) quit smoking and urged his fans to do the same after suffering from smoking-related health issues.

As you can see, actors have a tremendous impact on our masses. Wouldn’t stars smoking (even in films) send the wrong impression to millions? Shouldn’t you leave it to our government to decide what’s right for our people? You were not wrong when you said ‘I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it’s the government.’ Yes they are watching us but not in the Big Brother, Orwellian manner you’re thinking, but for our own goodwill.

How can you ignore scientific facts about the dangers of smoking?

The current graphic clips being shown in cinema halls are mandatory only if there are smoking scenes in the movie. Incidentally, the patients shown in those ads aren’t models but my own patients in the surgical ward. I was instrumental in getting that graphic ad made with the help of the World Lung Foundation for the Government of India. The best way to avoid that ‘disturbing’ clip is by avoiding glamorizing of smoking in the movie. Needless to say that, the choice of clips was based on a scientifically conducted public research. For smokers, the government approved ‘lung and tar’ clip and for smokeless tobacco they preferred the clip with graphic pictures. This may seem draconian and extremist by you but I call it a bold step by a government that is always castigated for its inaction. How can you ignore science over your unfounded perceptions? (What’s in your cigarette?)

Are you part of Big Tobacco‘s initiative to snare more smokers in the developing world?

Tobacco was introduced in India in 1600 by Portuguese. Its cultivation and promotion was regularized by British who made a huge fortune in international tobacco trade. With declining business in the West, the cigarette industry is strategically targeting huge developing populations like India’s. American cigarette companies are desperately trying to get a foot hold in India. Am I suffering from delusion in thinking that your stance is part of this international conspiracy?

Why are suddenly the ‘good guys’ smoking?

In the past, smoking was considered an immoral activity and it was often the villains who smoked and drank onscreen. However, in the last two decades, there has been a shocking increase in the number of smoking scenes where the lead characters are puffing away. There are proven instances where members of the tobacco industry have paid producers for favours to show smoking scenes in films. Did you too receive any financial support from socially downbeat industries like tobacco and alcohol to put in these scenes?

Do you honestly believe smoking scenes in movies aren’t clever product placements?

In India, along with sportspersons movie stars make a fortune by endorsing products. They endorse everything, from pencils to automobiles. With a ban on tobacco and alcohol advertisements, these companies are driven to make surrogate ads for other products. Alcohol companies do it by advertising music CDs, concerts, water and soda. Tobacco companies advertise a thousand products under the sun from biscuits for children to personal care products (though most of their revenue still comes from selling cigarettes).

A recent study actually found that children as young as five could recognise the logos of tobacco companies (the same report also found that 60% of all Indian children want to grow up to smoke). And we shouldn’t underestimate the power product placements in movies have on viewers. A very popular Hindi song had a line about particular pain-relieving balm which drove the sales of that particular balm through the roof. Do you honestly believe smoking and drinking on screen isn’t a clever ruse to get a new impressionable generation to start using these products?

Is smoking really a matter of personal choice?

Most Indian children start smoking when they’re between 14 and 16. It’s quite natural that in their first throes of youthful rebellion they do things that are forbidden by society or their family. Many of them also do so due to peer pressure or due to watching their heroes do it onscreen?

Out of them, many become habitual tobacco users and only 2% of them manage to kick the butt later on in life. Tobacco kills one million Indians every year leaving behind hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans who continue to live in misery for no fault of theirs. Do you still believe that smoking is a matter of personal choice?

Is your denial just a publicity stunt?

I sincerely hope it is not a publicity stunt to popularize your movie before it is released. Your current stance has given you massive publicity and it may translate into huge profits in the largest English-speaking population of the world. I am sure Hollywood producers can never ignore Indian audiences in India or abroad. If that is the case, why did you resort to such a cheap publicity strategy that may help subvert the historic law that Indian government enacted?

Dear Allen, you must visit a cancer centre some day and see the disaster unleashed by the devious tobacco industry. Please help us save those innocent lives rather than promote this killer industry. Let me quote you once again, ‘Death doesn’t really worry me that much. I’m not frightened about it… I just don’t want to be there when it happens’. Tobacco is all about 1 billion people dying miserably and being around when it happens.

With best wishes,

Prof Pankaj Chaturvedi

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Published : October 14, 2013 9:58 am | Updated:October 14, 2013 10:17 am

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