No smokescreen: Fighting evil, filmy ishtyle

I started smoking recently. People around me would blame it on “bad company”, and my folks call me a fool, but the bigger culprit HAS to be films.

See, films corrupt the minds of the young as well as the old. People who have otherwise never seen others smoking and drinking and never been attracted to it, suddenly watch actors smoking in films and pick up the bad habit. At least that’s what the government seems to believe.

Hence, warning messages against smoking in cinema halls!
According to new guidelines issued by the government, a 20-second anti-smoking message by one of the actors seen smoking in the film will have to be shown before the film begins and another similar message during the interval. If several such messages are displayed, I don’t have to worry if I arrive late to the cinema.

After this move by the health and family welfare ministry, other departments should also take the filmy route to educate people about other social evils. The focus must first be on reckless driving. The road transport department must insist that during all car chase scenes, a static message should be displayed advising viewers against over-speeding and that people should drive slowly. Then focus on drink driving.

Similarly, the railway ministry should ensure caution against people boarding running trains especially without tickets. For ages, we have seen the protagonist in our films jumping into or off a moving train to meet his lady love. Did he buy a ticket for the journey? Unlikely. At least a platform ticket? No. Isn’t that a bad example set for youngsters! It’s high time such acts are put to a stop, through a small message, if not a long campaign.

How enlightening it would be if every film had a section containing long campaigns to undo the damage films cause our society.
But I have to say hoping that people will read these static messages during such scenes is like expecting viewers to notice what Arunoday Singh was wearing in Jism 2 while speaking to Sunny Leone.

Oops! This reminds me of something else. Whenever the hero stares at the heroine, there should be an advisory reminding men that such staring is a social evil. If the heroine shows displeasure in his wooing but he continues, then the size of the message should be doubled and it must be displayed on the centre of the screen so that no one misses it.

Then, what about children? Should they be allowed to watch films at all? At such a gullible age are they not likely to be influenced by even the smallest undesirable act? So the government must ask film producers to run a detailed campaign on the ill-effects of junk food if a film shows aerated drinks, chips, burgers or pizzas.
Besides, if the films glamourise such social evils, shouldn’t there be a warning that watching films could corrupt your mind!

However, if the government thinks people are foolish enough to get influenced by movies, it must keep in mind that only a bigger fool would concentrate on the messages.