It has been reported that Bollywood fans are more likely to be tobacco addict. In a first of its kind study, HRIDAY has found that Indian adolescents who are exposed to tobacco use in Bollywood films are more likely to be tobacco users. This study entitled “Tobacco use in Bollywood movies, tobacco promotional activities and their association with tobacco use among Indian adolescents” has been published in the online first version of Tobacco Control journal (doi:10.1136/tc.2011.043539). The cross-sectional study was conducted among nearly 4000 students from 12 schools across New Delhi to assess their current and ever tobacco use status, receptivity to tobacco promotions and exposure to tobacco use in movies.
According to Dr. Monika Arora, Head: Health Promotion and Tobacco Control, Public Health Foundation of India and lead author of this paper “the results of this study reveal that the odds of ever tobacco use (using tobacco once or more) among students who were highly exposed to tobacco use occurrences in Bollywood films was more than twice as compared to those with low exposure. Adolescents in this study had seen a mean of 162 tobacco use occurrences from the 59 films that were coded. Results also suggest that boys are much more exposed than girls.”
The Indian film industry produces double the number of films produced in Hollywood. Although depiction of smoking in Hollywood films has already been established as a risk factor for teen smoking in the United States and Europe, no such estimate has previously been available for Bollywood films and their influence on Indian adolescents. With viewership of nearly 3 million world-over, the impact of these films on audience behaviour and attitudes, particularly youth, is insurmountable.
According to Dr. Gaurang Nazar, Manager – Research, HRIDAY and one of the co-authors on this study, “This is the first systematic study in India to show an association between tobacco use depiction in Bollywood films and tobacco use among adolescents, as a well-established content analysis method has been adopted in this research. Each film was viewed by coders and tobacco use exposure in each film was recorded.”
The study has also found that students who owned or were willing to wear tobacco branded merchandise had greater chances of being ever tobacco users. Nearly 7.3% of all adolescents in the study reported owning a tobacco promotional item. This promotion of tobacco brands is in gross violation of Section 5 of the Indian tobacco control law, COTPA 2003, which bans all forms of direct and indirect tobacco advertising.
Dr. Monika Arora further emphasized, “results from this research highlight the need to strengthen implementation of Section 5 of COTPA, and finalize the rules related to tobacco use in films, with particular attention paid to prohibit showing smoking and tobacco use in Indian films, which glamorizes this behaviour for the young audience and they get an impression that smoking and tobacco use is a norm. Both, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting need to work concertedly in this direction.”
In India, high prevalence of tobacco consumption is one of the major challenges to health and wellbeing of its citizens. About 2700 Indians die every day from tobacco use. Research shows that 5500 youth in India start using tobacco daily. A survey of tobacco use among young people, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey-2009, reveals that nearly 15% of youth currently use tobacco in India. Many teenagers light their first cigarette after watching their favourite actor smoke on screen.
The Government’s ruling to prohibit the depiction of smoking in films has been challenged by a renowned film producer on grounds of freedom of expression. Owing to the Delhi High Court’s decision to uphold the petition, the matter is now pending in the Supreme Court. Though the Apex Court has stayed the High Court’s decision, the matter is pending for final adjudication. Given that an end to portrayal of tobacco use in films is of such significant interest to public health, especially youth, this study provides strong evidence in favour of the prohibition.
Recently, HRIDAY sent a Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) kit and tips to quit tobacco to popular screen star Shahrukh Khan following his claim to attempt quitting, publicly. A number of film actors have reportedly made attempts to quit recognizing the ill-effects of tobacco use. HRIDAY also sent a letter to critically acclaimed film actor Aamir Khan, applauding his suggestion to include tobacco control messaging at the start of film screenings and his attempts to address the influence of tobacco use in Indian films. However, the Bollywood fraternity continues such depiction of tobacco use in films unabated and exposure to such smoking and tobacco use scenes is extremely high in many recent films.
The complete study is attached for reference and can also be accessed at http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2011/07/05/tc.2011.043539.full.pdf