Remove posters showing Aishwarya Rai smoking cigarette:Doctors

The young doctors also demanded that the smoking scene in the film that was released today be removed immediately."We are in the process of writing letters to the Information and Broadcasting and Health Ministry to the effect," Dr Pankaj Nalavade, secretary, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors-KEM Hospital, told reporters.

"Knowing fully well the ill-effects of smoking, how could Aishwarya allowed herself to act in the film Guzaarish smoking away a cigarette and also allowed that particular scene to be used by the advertisers through big hoardings all over the city giving wrong signals to young minds," the resident doctors said.

"We are against the act of Aishwarya in the film. The person bestowed with Padmashree and once crowned as Miss World should be a role model for youngster. She was the one who inspired people through eye donation campaign but with advertisement for smoking, she will be only promoting ideas for ill-health," the doctors said.

They have also written a letter to Aishwarya asking her whether the Producer and the PR agency had taken her consent to use the particular picture for the advertisement.
Doctors pointed out that about one million people die of tobacco-related diseases every year.

"Tobacco companies are now targeting Indian women. Smoking makes women infertile apart from causing many cancers including cancers of the Breast and smoking by mothers severely affect the children. Smoking during pregnancy damages the foetus and some may die," doctors cautioned  the high profile actor.