Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap who had fought a long-drawn-out battle with the censor board during his film Ugly to do away with the anti-smoking warning on screen every time a character lit a cigarette, is not a lone warrior now. Earlier this week, Kashyap met Rajyvardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of state for Information and broadcasting, to discuss the issue along with singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo.
While there were reports that Supriyo may have also taken the opportunity to discuss the ban of cuss words supported by CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihlani with Rathore, the singer denies it completely.
“This is completely false! It is not my place to discuss censorial decisions and it’s wrong to suggest that I expressed an adverse opinion on the list during the meeting between Mr Kashyap and Mr Rathore. Pahlajji is like a father figure. When I was new in the industry he took care of me like a father takes care of his son,” he said.
He does however, have a strong opinion on the anti-smoking warnings.
“I agree with filmmakers like Anurag who feel that that the ticker on the screen during smoking scenes distracts from the movie-viewing experience. Warnings don’t serve any purpose and producers should show the characters smoking in the movie only if they must, but give a portion of your profits to cancer research,” he says.
