Ramadoss to ban use of mobile phone in movies

April 1: Shah Rukh has finally hit back at health minister Anbumani Ramadoss’ appeal to movie stars not to use mobile phones on screen. Shah Rukh said that there is huge amount of creative freedom in the field of cinema and the actors should be allowed have that. The actor added that cinema reflects the society and should not be restrained by censorships.

The health minister had requested all the movie stars especially Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to give up using cellphones on screen as as it encourages the youth to pick up this cancerous habit. Ramdoss argued that he is also against cellphone scenes in movies as this too has bad influence on the audience especially on teenagers.

“There shouldn’t be any mobile phone scenes in movies because we have statistics showing that 52 per cent of children make their first mobile call due to movie celebrities,” he said.

The minister had cited Rajnikant as a role model to Bachchan and Shah Rukh, saying the Sivaji The Boss star did not use mobile phones “on screen as a matter of principle”.

But the parallel did not go down well in Mumbai. “There was no need for him to cite Rajnikant’s example. There are scenes where Rajnikant is holding a mobile phone, though he might not be talking,” said Shah Rukh’s associate at Red Chillies, the actor’s production house.

The minister also revealed that his ministry would bring in legislation to ban using cellular phones on television and big screen.

As you must have read in this and other newspapers, an Australian doctor of Indian origin has said that mobile phones are as harmful to human health as cigarettes, because they cause brain tumour which leads to cancer.

The handsome health minister also urged Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to increase taxes on mobile phones and accessories.

“We have requested the finance minister to increase the taxes on (mobile) products so that the alarming figures of its usage as compared to other countries can come down,” Ramadoss told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on microbicides he inaugurated.

He said that in India more than 100 million people are addicted to mobile phones and hinted at curtailing mobile phone manufacturing in the near future.
The minister took pot shots at cine stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan for their criticism of his stance against on-screen mobile usage. “Creativity should be used to save lives and not to take lives,” he said.