Farah Khan pledges to not show smoking in her films but refuses to advice good friend Shah Rukh to quit smoking

Farah Khan has taken a stern stand to not show smoking in her movies. The filmmaker was interacting with the media on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. At an event for Cancer Patients Aid Association she was invited to spread awareness against smoking or chewing tobacco products, reason for many lung cancer cases.

"As a filmmaker, I have pledged that from now onwards any actor will not smoke in my films. In my films, actors don't smoke usually, but in Om Shanti Om, the character played by Arjun Rampal smoked a cigarette...and we all know what happened with him in the end of the film...I have made a promise that I will never glorify smoking."

Farah's close friend Shah Rukh Khan, with whom she has collaborated in many movies, is a impulsive smoker.

Asked about the advice she would like to give to him, she said: "See, every person is responsible for themselves. There are so many people in my family who smoke, but after a point, everybody is an adult and they know what they are doing. So, I don't think we have to preach to anybody. I can say what I can do as a responsible filmmaker."

Smoking has come long way in Indian cinema from depicting male chauvinism, an agent of power, companion for solitute to a way for women liberation. However, later on as part of the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2005 the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare prohibited advertisement of cigarettes in any form in the media", diminishing its role onscreen.

Farah is collaborating with Rohit Shetty to make a remake of the Bollywood classic Satte Pe Satta. She is still finishing its script after which the casting process will commence. She has earlier refuted rumours that Shah Rukh Khan has been signed for her film.