‘Hawa’ sued again for breaching tobacco law

After resolving the Wildlife (Preservation and Security) Act 2012 violation issue, a Supreme Court lawyer sent a legal notice to the makers of the film ‘Hawa’, including director Mejbaur Rahman Sumon and protagonist Chanchal Chowdhury, for violating Bangladesh’s Tobacco Control Law.

SC lawyer Jewel Sarkar sent the legal notice to the film’s director, producer, lead character and the chairman of the Censor Board on Saturday.

According to the notice, the film did not show anti-tobacco messages while showcasing smoking as per the rules. It also says, a gross violation of law was seen in Hawa where unnecessary smoking scenes were used without any health warning about the dangers of smoking.

Jewel said, “Even though the producer and director of the movie were warned verbally for several days, they did not add anti-tobacco messages in the movie as per the law.”

Regarding the issue, Sumon said, “The issues mentioned here were baseless; those who have watched the movie know it very well.”

According to the Smoking and Usage of Tobacco Products (Control) Acts 2005 if the story of a movie requires displaying any scene containing the usage of tobacco products, it can be shown by displaying a written warning about the harmful effects of the use of tobacco products and a health warning containing ‘Smoking or consuming tobacco causes death’ will have to be displayed in the middle of the screen covering at least one-fifth of the screen, in white letters against a black background, in Bangla.

Such health warnings will have to be displayed continuously as long as the scene runs.

The Act also says, in case of a movie showing in a cinema hall which has a scene of usage of tobacco products, a health warning containing “Smoking or consuming tobacco causes death” will have to be displayed in full screen for at least 20 seconds in Bangla before starting the film, during the interval and after completion of the movie. 

Moreover, ‘Hawa’ is still running its blockbuster run across the nation. Its recent screening at Bangladesh Film Festival in Kolkata created a kilometre-long line of interested audience members. The film had a tobacco warning at the beginning but had no separate warning messages describing the harmful effects of the use of tobacco products when characters smoked onscreen.