Top Hollywood - Smoking Actresses

A snapshot of Madhur Bhandarkar's much-hyped upcoming film Heroine that shows Kareena Kapoor smoking and drinking has aroused curiosity among citizens ever since it was released by the filmmaker on Twitter recently. The photograph showed that Kareena gearing up for a scene that obviously has her lighting up Marlboro cigs, with a glass of alcohol in one hand, even as a crew member readies to sound the clapboard. This is the second time in the recent past that a top Hollywood actress will be seen puffing away on screen. While the Union health ministry has banned the depiction of tobacco use in films and on TV unless there is 'strong editorial justification', Vidya Balan was seen smoking and drinking freely in her National Award-winning role of the eighties siren Silk in The Dirty Picture.
Vidya's film, passed with an 'adults only' certificate, evidently fell back on the editorial justification clause because her role of a non-conformist sex symbol demanded such a portrayal. 'Heroine casts Kareena as a disillusioned superstar trying to come to terms with her sagging popularity. No scene in the film is meant to encourage discount smoking. Everything will seem justified when seen in the context of the character and the film,' a source in the film's unit said. Interestingly, top Hollywood actresses seem to be in the mood to light up at a time when their male counterparts have avoided smoking scenes. Apart from Shah Rukh Khan in Don 2 and Sanjay Dutt in Agneepath, there has lately been no other notable smoking scene featuring a top actor. While on Kareena, this is the second time she will be seen smoking on screen. She had earlier lighted up for her role of a sex worker in the 2004 crossover hit Chameli. In the 2010 release Guzaarish, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan had a scene where she holds a cigarette between her fingers.
But the actress was not shown smoking. Priyanka Chopra also had to do a smoking shot in her National Award-winning role of a fashion model in Madhur's 2008 hit, Fashion. The government diktat has stated that any film with a smoking scene will have to run a 20-second disclaimer showing the actor concerned talking about the ill-effects of tobacco. The disclaimer can be screened in the beginning or the middle of the film. The ministry order has also demanded that a warning be scrolled at the bottom of the screen during a smoking scene. Films with smoking scenes this year have had verbal disclaimers played out against a written warning on a black screen, but no actor has featured in these spots.