Dhanush’s Velai Illa Pattathaari or VIP is doing phenomenal business eclipsing all others right now on the screens in Tamil Nadu. To make matters even more jubilant, the actor just celebrated his 31st birthday on top of that, albeit in a small ceremony with friends and loved ones. Let’s not forget that Dhanush is also the producer of VIP!
But nothing ever goes that perfect and as if to prove that particular point, a dark cloud has risen in the form of a protest from the Tamil Nadu Forum for Tobacco Control (TNFTC) against the young superstar.
Yes, the organization has protested at and expressed their condemnation for the actor displaying several scenes in the flick where he is smoking cigarettes. Such shots of him lighting one up are also on many posters of the movie.
The TNFTC feel that by doing this, the actor has indirectly encouraged the practice of smoking which is a major health issue with proven injurious effects to health. They feel this was inconsiderate of Dhanush, given how influential he can be to the millions of impressionable youth out there and also to his own enormous fan community.
They feel that such open support for smoking should not be done by anyone who exerts large amounts of potential influence over the masses. In fact, the TNFTC has, prior to this, also requested stars such as Ajith, Rajinikanth, Vijay, Suriya etc. also not to smoke on screen in their films.
The very determined and outraged organization had already requested the Tamil Nadu Government to take down all the posters of VIP, which has Dhanush smoking initially. This had caused Dhanush to launch fresh ‘clean’ posters a few weeks back.
The TNFTC also has questioned the censor board, as part of their campaign against VIP, about how the flick managed to land a U certificate despite all of this!
Well, a justifiable protest or making a mountain out of a molehill to draw attention to their cause, however public oriented it may be… you decide.
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