MADRAS, India -- A recent study in the United States revealed that films have a powerful effect on viewers' behavior. When actors smoke on screen, they serve as a link between big tobacco companies and impressionable young people.
Research conducted in India in 2003 by the Tobacco Free Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) had similar results, determining that portrayals of cigarette smoking on the big screen has been responsible for many Indians picking up the habit.
Taking this finding seriously, India's health ministry has decided to ban smoking on television and in the movies. Movie and TV companies have been given a few months to prepare for the change, after which no character will be allowed to light up. Furthermore, both domestic and foreign movies that were produced before the ban will have to carry warnings of smoking-related health hazards when they are shown in India.