Shah Rukh says smoking in films is a 'creative liberty' : Bollywood News : ApunKaChoice.Com


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Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh says smoking in films is a 'creative liberty'
29th Jan 2008 10.30 IST
By Agencies

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan says smoking in films is “creative liberty” that should not be curbed because cinema needs artistic freedom.

Voicing the same sentiment that was expressed by Aamir Khan two years ago, Shah Rukh sort of 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 gave the rationale 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 celebrities."

"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 Rajnikant regarding smoking onscreen.

Incidentally, Mr. Bachchan does not smoke in public. But he was at the receiving end of accusations from anti-smoking lobby after a huge billboard of his film Family - Ties Of Blood showed him smoking a cigar.

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

In October last year, 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.

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