A court has removed an “on-screen” smoking ban for films being produced in India.

“Directors of films should not have multifarious authorities breathing down their necks when indulging in a creative act,” Kaul said while striking down the rules framed by the central government in October 2006 that banned on-screen smoking.

Justice Kaul passed the order as an umpire judge after a division bench had earlier given a split verdict on Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt’s petition challenging the curbs imposed by the government.

“The constitution guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression to all its citizens, which is (most) important of all fundamental rights. The concept of censorship itself is a deviation and due care has been taken to incorporate the discouragement of any propagation or advertisement ofsmoking by incorporating the relevant provisions in the guidelines of the censor board,” the order stated.

The video above deals with this topic pertaining to American films.