India Release of Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine' Cancelled Over Anti-Smoking Ads

It’s been a topic of discussion in the US for decades: Does Hollywood have an obligation to send a message to its audience that it does not, in fact, encourage people to engage in vices often depicted in the movies? In India, the answer to this question, at least as it relates to cigarette smoking, is “yes”.

By law, before every movie shown in India — whether it is made there or not  — an anti-tobacco PSA made by the Indian Ministry of Health is screened, and during the movie itself, an anti-tobacco message is inserted into in any scene in which characters are seen smoking.

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