TSNAB directs Ganja Shankar movie makers to change title

If any such objectionable scenes in connection with Ganja/ Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance are made, a legal action will be initiated against you under the provisions of NDPS Act, 1985, the notice said.

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) has issued notices on the makers of Telugu film Ganja Shankar and directed them to delete the word Ganja from the movie title.

The Director of TSNAB, Sandeep Shandilya in the notice said “We are expecting that you refrain from depicting any scenes in your movies where consumption, sale, peddling and supply of narcotic Ganja is glorified and shown as a heroic act and you desist from having such scenes in your movie and to abstain propagating such acts which have deleterious effects in the young generation,” TSNAB said.

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If any such objectionable scenes in connection with Ganja/ Narcotics and Psychotropic Substance are made, a legal action will be initiated against you under the provisions of NDPS Act, 1985, the notice said.

The TSNAB in the notice pointed out “you are aware that inclusion of these scenes not only normalizes and glamorizes the use of narcotics, particularly among the youth, but also serves to abet the commission of such crimes by indirectly/tacitly endorsing and encouraging their consumption. This portrayal could have detrimental effects on impressionable viewers, particularly young audiences and on the society by influencing their attitudes and behavior towards drug use. We believe that the movie Ganja Shankar potentially inciting or abetting the crime of narcotics consumption inviting penal consequences to the movie makers,” the TSNAB in the notice said.

The TSNAB notice was addressed to the makers of the Ganja Shankar including Sai Dharma Tej, Naga Vamshi S, Sampath Nandi and Bheems Cesiroleo. “On watching the trailer, it can be concluded that the protagonist is a vagabond who does leafy vegetables business and the pictorials of Ganja plant are indicting that the leafy vegetable business done by the protagonist is Ganja. “In your movie, depicting the protagonist character as dong Ganja business and glorifying his acts and title itself Ganja Shankar will create negative impact on the viewers specially students and youth, the TSNAB notice said.