I don’t smoke in real life: Dhanush

Actors Rajinikanth and Vijay made open statements that they would not appear in smoking scenes in their films.  But Rajini’s son-in-law Dhanush has done on-screen smoking scenes which are drawing a lot of flak of late.

The National Award winner courted controversy by appearing in smoking scenes in Mariyaan and Velai Illa Pattadhari. And now again in his recent film Maari, the actor is shown smoking cigarettes. Reacting to a query about needing to be socially responsibility as a result of having a huge fan following, the  actor replied, “It is a call taken by the director of the film.

The script and my character of a local thug demanded such a sequence in the film. But in real life I don’t smoke. And I request my fans to take that as inspiration and not to smoke, and give up smoking if they are smokers.”

Coming from a family of directors, Dhanush said he also nurtures the ambition to pen a story and wield the megaphone one day. “Right now, my commitment is towards acting. I want to equip myself fully with the skills of making a film before I venture into that role.”