Indian adolescents who are exposed to tobacco use in Bollywood films are more likely to be tobacco users, concluded a study conducted recently by a Mumbai-based ngo Hriday. 

The study titled, ‘Tobacco use in Bollywood movies, tobacco promotional activities and their association with tobacco use among Indian adolescents’, was published in British Medical Journal. A survey was conducted in 2009 on 3,965 adolescents from 12 randomly selected schools (six private schools and six government schools) from New Delhi which showed that the chances of using tobacco among students who were more exposed to seeing the use of tobacco in Bollywood movies is twice as compared to those students who are less exposed.

Exposure to tobacco use in movies was assessed by asking the adolescents whether they had seen any movie from the ?xed list of 59 Bollywood movies which had 412 tobacco use occurrences. Occurrences of tobacco use in the movies were counted as an assessment of the extent to which tobacco was portrayed.

“Overall prevalence of ever tobacco use among school-going adolescents (those who have consumed tobacco at least once in their lifetime) was found to be 5.3 percent. This prevalence was higher among boys at 6.2 percent than in girls at 4.3 percent, notes the study,” notes the study headed by Monika Arora from Public Health Foundation of India.

This prevalence was signi?cantly higher among the lower social economic status group (8.2 percent) than higher social economic status group (3.1 percent) and in older age group.

India signed the cigarette and other tobacco products act (COTPA) in 2004. Under section 5 of the act, direct and indirect forms of tobacco advertising are prohibited. But this was challenged in the courts and a decision on it is still pending.

“This study provides evidence that the association between seeing movie tobacco use and youth tobacco use is not restricted to Hollywood movies or Western countries. The ?ndings support strengthening legal provisions in India to restrict depictions of tobacco use in Bollywood movies. The study also suggests that tobacco-branded merchandise still reaches adolescents some six years after enforcement of legislation that restricted tobacco promotion in all forms and supports efforts to bolster enforcement of COTPA in India,” the paper reads.