The director on Sunday shared posters featuring Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, Ranveer Singh in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar and Vicky Kaushal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War, with all three actors seen smoking in their respective looks. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has questioned Bollywood’s continued use of smoking as part of a leading man’s on-screen image and on posters, expecially.
One user brought up Gupta’s own 2002 film Kaante, pointing to a song in the movie that references smoking. Notified by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on September 16 under the Cinematograph Act, the new rules make anti-drug warnings mandatory in films depicting narcotics, while also reiterating restrictions on violence, sensitive subjects and content that could affect India’s relations with other countries. The changes come alongside the Centre’s reconstitution of the CBFC with a new 18-member board.
The comment read, “Because these people think that cigarette is the only thing that shows a man masculine. The post soon led to a discussion in the comments. Several other users joined the discussion and agreed with the filmmaker’s broader concern about how smoking is used in films. One person compared the situation to the warnings audiences see while watching content on streaming platforms, writing, “It’s a joke, it’s like watching a show on Netflix and apple and being warned about alcohol consumption. Another user questioned the repeated association between cigarettes and masculinity in Indian cinema. This is the lack of creativity. All Indian film industries are suffering from ‘masculinity sycophancy’. Bhaad mai gaya content, story aur creativity. This arrives when the rules on substance use in films are also being tightened. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) brought in a set of revised guidelines for what can be shown on screen and how certain subjects should be handled. The panel also features filmmaker Neela Madhab Panda, actor Manoj Joshi, singer and former parliamentarian Hans Raj Hans, producer Supriya Yarlagadda, poet Yatindra Mishra, actors Roopali Ganguly and Nishigandha Wad, theatre director Waman Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange.
The user wrote, “Suprised that this is coming from the director of the movie Kaante which has a song which says ‘ciggrate ke dhuan ka challa banake, collar ko thodasa upar chada ke’…what an irony.
