"Art for arts sake", I accept. I would prefer to watch a Shelock Holmes with a cigar between his lips, but that is solely because of the perception that I have about Holmes. But there is much more about smoking in films.
If someone ask any smoker why did he start smoking, the answer that you get from a huge majority is pretty simple: he saw his friends smoke, he saw his heroes smoke, and he thought that smoking is macho. I have not seen any of my friends who started smoking with a different reason.
It is this particular reason that the Government is trying to address. Undoubtedly, it is the films that are the biggest advertising hoardings for the tobacco industry. When a hero or villain fits a cigar into his mouth whenever he does something brave or serious, it is the act of smoking which is glorified. The film industry can afford to spit that cigar out in the cold for sometime, just to make sure that we are honest with ourselves when we say 'Smoking is Injurious to Health'.
