Shah Rukh, The 'Smo' King Khan

Of all those millions of people smoking while roaming around the roads and other public places including railway platforms and airports, the Union Health Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss suddenly decided to pick up only two people who, he thinks, are responsible for the prevalent smoking habits of all Indians: Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.

He even went on to give them a directive that they should stop setting a bad example by smoking in public and in films as “children have their first puff of cigarette due to celebrities", as if those millions of dads and uncles of those millions of children bear no responsibility for carrying out the regular task of smoking in public and thus influencing their next generation.

Ministers carry the intuition of recognizing exactly where the vote bank lies -- it lies among millions of dads and uncles and so it's not a good idea to blame them! Instead, pick up only 2 Bollywood heroes (2 insignificant votes only) and thrash them in public and let those uncles and dads get a relief from any iota of remorse they ever had carried in their hearts or lungs due to the act of smoking.

Dr. Ramadoss even said Mr. Khan should not have smoked in the stands while watching a cricket match in Mumbai. Aha! The minister does not even know that the Indian Constitution does not single out any individual and disallow him/her to perform any act which is not prohibited by law. If the minister really wants to do something good, why doesn't he dare to ban smoking everywhere in India?

The minister, obviously in an attempt to win the heart of southern voters, had decided to pick up another hero, Rajnikant and cited him as a role model to Bachchan and Shah Rukh, saying the 'Sivaji The Boss' star did not smoke “on screen as a matter of principle”. Oh! Our innocent minister probably did not look closely at those scenes where Rajnikant is holding a cigarette, though he might not be smoking!

Although the Shahen-Shah of Bollywood has not yet opened his mouth on this topic (he is too busy repairing his image of an Indian farmer), the 'Smo' King Khan issued a statement, “Ramadoss feels Mr Bachchan and myself should not be smoking on screen, and I truly agree. More than that, I wish that Mr Ramadoss prays I stop smoking in real life (since) that’s worse. As filmmakers we should have creative liberties because cinema is all about make-believe ...we shouldn’t have censorship on that”.