Mumbai: Recently, I told you about the smoking depicted in the upcoming SRK film, Don and how I expected it to raise a few hackles. As expected, the fact there is smoking depicted in Don has put the film in the news. Before watching the forthcoming film, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss is already upset with the actor for allegedly 'glamorising' smoking. Reportedly, on Friday evening, Ramadoss objected to the fact that Shah Rukh was making a 'virtue of a vice'.

Industry sources revealed that the minister has not seen the film, only the promos. Meanwhile, the film's producer Ritesh Sidhwani says, "The promos of the movie have been cleared by the censor board and only after that they have been shown on TV channels. We have not violated any law."

Additionally, director Farhan Akhtar is upset with those who have come to their own conclusions regarding any smoking scenes in the film.

"In fact, Shah Rukh Khan's character in the film is against smoking. "There is a scene where the character stops a person who is trying to light a cigarette saying, 'Smoking kills, I am trying to quit smoking' and flicks the cigarette away. It is really sad that instead of clarifying things with the concerned persons, people are drawing their own conclusion," he says.

Incidentally, the Don shoot had begun just after the health ministry had issued a notification banning smoking in films. The producers considered this before work on the film began, making sure smoking wasn't going to come in the way of the movie.

It was also stated in the notification that if the film was to have the actor smoke in any scene, the ministry wanted them to shoot a small audio-visual warning people against smoking and was injurious to health. This would then be used as a disclaimer before the screening of the film.

"But Shah Rukh Khan has spoken against smoking in the film. What more does the minister want?" said a source.

In the meantime, the information and broadcasting ministry has drafted an affidavit to be filed in the court in reply to Mahesh Bhatt's public interest plea, which challenges the ban on smoking scenes in films.

According to sources in information and broadcasting, the ministry has consulted the health ministry and agreed upon a decision to not ban smoking scenes in films, but rather to issue an adult certificate to films that depict smoking.

One may recall that Bhatt filed the public interest litigation in the Delhi High Court on September 26, 2005 that challenges the ban on smoking scenes in films and on television.