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No
smoke without fire
By
Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
A
controversial anti smoking campaign has been launched against the
Sinhala movie, Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna. Movie Producer Upul
Shantha Sannasgala has blamed the Alcohol and Drug Information
Centre (ADIC) for organising the campaign.
According
to Sannasgala, since of late, ADIC has resorted to immoral
campaigns to voice their displeasure at smoking, especially by
women and one such campaign goes to say that smoking reduces the
size of male genitals. Sannasgala observed that spray-painting
such filth on school walls is not right as they directly affect
young children, males and females alike. Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna,
according to Sannasgala is the latest victim of such low level
campaigns. Sannasgala charged that ADIC has pasted posters with
various 'odd' messages, while destroying some posters on the movie
and even gone to the extent of hooting at the movie theatre. The
latter incident has managed to create quite an impact on the
audience as they have assaulted those who were hooting.
However
speaking to The Sunday Leader, Media Programme Officer, ADIC,
Kumari Welagedara said ADIC
is a science- based professional organisation engaged in the
reduction of the demand for drugs. Welagedara explained that they
have moved from curative and prevention methods to promoting
health.
As
for ADIC's position regarding the movie Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna,
Welagedara observed that they have informed the relevant
authorities and the film's director and producer on the impact it
would have on women, especially the young ones. According to
Welagedara, films have an impact on children and when young girls
see women smoking in films, they in turn feel that it is essential
to smoke to be a 'liberated woman.'
Welagedara
went on to say that there are quite a number of scenes of women
smoking in Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna, adding that the movie is
also engaged in promoting a certain brand. Throughout the movie,
all social classes use one brand of cigarettes. This, according to
Welagedara cannot happen as people from different social levels
smoke different brands. "Heavy smoking of the lead role can
have an impact on young girls and is health hazardous," said
Welagedara. According to her apart from that, ADIC has no
involvement with the movie and said that ADIC is not involved in
any poster campaign. Welagedara said that she has no idea of who
is behind the poster campaign, although she too has seen a number
of them down the roads.
Explaining
further, Welagedara said that the only action one could take is to
educate the public through media literacy. "We can't restrict
the media and it is their responsibility to make sure that they do
not create any side effects when promoting women's liberation in
movies," Welagedara said. Although banning scenes of women
smoking is a possibility, Welagedara is of the view that what is
really important is a person knowing the bad effects of smoking
and voluntary abstinence.
When
asked whether ADIC has received a response from the movie director
or the producer Welagedara said that she is yet to know whether
they have received the report in the first place.
Sannasgala
however said that although he has called ADIC for an open debate
on the subject, they have not responded. According to Sannasgala,
he is ready for an open debate at any time, stating that ADIC
should come out in the open and have a debate on the matter rather
than resorting to "ugly" campaigns.
According
to Sannasgala, there are many involved in importing, selling and
consuming heroin and other drugs in the country and ADIC has not
spoken against such activities. He charged that ADIC has not
resorted to pasting posters in filth against those involved in
importing and distributing dangerous drugs like heroin. Sannasgala
alleged that ADIC is a beneficiary of tobacco companies and is
mainly engaged in conducting dirty work for international tobacco
firms.
Commenting
on the money used to produce the film, Sannasgala said that as the
film's producer, he provided the necessary finances. As to the
question of whether the money was illgotten, Sannasgala said that
the money used to finance the film was 'hard earned money' he
earned by teaching Sinhala and said that it is the money of fellow
Sri Lankans.
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