Former health minister Anbumani Ramadoss asks Dhanush to quit smoking on screen

CHENNAI: PMK leader and former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today appealed to Tamil actor Dhanush to give up smoking on screen in the interest of youngsters' health.

Expressing shock over Dhanush's on-screen smoking in his recent Tamil movie ' Maari', he said it would have a serious adverse impact on his fan following, who were mostly youngsters.

"Considering the welfare of Tamil Nadu's youngsters, you must give up on-screen smoking and should also announce that you will refrain from doing it on screen now onwards," he said in a letter to the actor which was released to the media.

He urged the actor to emulate his father-in-law and Tamil superstar Rajinikanth who some years ago stopped smoking on screen besides appealing to his fans to give up the habit.

Quoting from medical studies, he stressed that tobacco use was dangeous and said refraining from smoking on screen was good for his health.

Citing studies and findings from renowned medical journal Lancet, and the World Health Organisation, he argued that on screen smoking by film personalities thrust smoking on the youth and it eventually lead to a rise in smoking habit among them.

He also referred to a Kerala High Court verdict and said smoking scenes in films were an indirect form of advertisement for tobacco use which must be stopped.