Sir — A court had recently banned a television channel for a few days as some of the latter’s programmes were found to contain vulgar dialogues. Earlier too, some channels were placed under a ban for a few days on account of alleged vulgarity.
Though a ban on the media is not desirable, if things go bad then the step has to be taken in public interest. It is human tendency to absorb negative impacts, as that requires no effort. Self-censorship in films has failed completely, and even the Censor Board has not performed its duty of checking vulgarity, as rightly observed by the court. The board has cleared films that have filthy and abusive language. This has contributed to the debasement in society, especially among the youth.
The film industry and the television fraternity are responsible citizens. They must promote morality, decency, honesty, cultural values and high social conduct. In this direction, our stars and other celebrities must refuse to mouth cheap and vulgar dialogues. And, if films and television programmes cannot make people better, at least they should not make them worse.