Don't want to respond to people who talk through their a**: Anurag Kas

A doctor has written an open letter to Anurag Kashyap after the acclaimed filmmaker refused to put an anti smoking warning in his upcoming movie Ugly. Kashyap had filed public interest litigation (PIL) at Bombay high court on December 17, challenging the Cigarettes and Tobacco Products Act, after the censor board did not allow his movie to be released. He claimed the rules violated his fundamental right to speech and expression.

In a strongly-worded letter, senior cancer surgeon of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, has replied to some of the arguments made by Kashyap in his petition (see box) . Talking to Mumbai Mirror, Dr Chaturvedi said, "I am dismayed. The Supreme Court has directed the censor board to make filmmakers display warning in every scene that shows people smoking. Every day, nearly 3,000 people die due to tobacco-related cancer. At TMH, we receive 50,000 new cases annually and most of them are tobacco-related cancer patients."


READ :Refuse to get bullied on anti-smoking warning in Ugly: Anurag Kashyap


Dr Chaturvedi is a member of Action Council Against Tobacco India, an NGO that largely comprises TMH doctors. The NGO has now moved the Bombay High Court to intervene in the petition filed by Kashyap. Earlier, they had supported the Gutkha ban in Maharashtra by providing various studies and research works, which proved that 45 per cent cancer deaths in India were due to tobacco.

Meanwhile, on February 5, the court issued notices to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to file a reply to Kashyap's petition. They have till March 5 to reply to the petition. Under the Cigarettes and Tobacco Products Act, it is mandatory for filmmakers to crop or mask scenes depicting tobacco use.

Kashyap, who has directed the movie,had applied for CBFC certification on September 19, 2013, along with a letter stating that he didn't wish to have the anti-smoking message displayed during the film as it was "a gross violation of his creative expression and fundamental rights". The CBFC had then refused the demand.


READ : Anurag Kashyap tweaks Ugly for India release


When contacted, Kashyap gave a scathing reply, saying, "A person who makes patients sign a form before surgery, saying the doctor is not responsible, wants to hold my film responsible for the social ill of smoking and make it my responsibility. That's an irony. I don't want to respond to people who don't know what my fight is about and talk through their a**."