The government’s proposed ban on on-screen smoking, which had kicked up a controversy, appears to be on way to the backburner.

This became clear with the new Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi saying in New Delhi on Thursday that while all measures needed to be taken to discourage smoking, “content of a character (in any artistic venture) cannot be dictated or interfered”.

The rationale of the Ministry appears to be that such a ban flies in the face of artistic freedom. “How can Devdaas (in picture) be depicted without a smoke and how can Winston Churchill be portrayed without his cigar”, was the refrain of an I&B official.

Dasmunshi’s stand is at variance with that of Health Minister A Ramdoss who has strongly pitched for ban on smoking on screen about which government had issued a notification in May last year.

The move had been hailed by anti-tobacco campaigners as a ’sensible step” but was attacked by filmmakers as a curb on artistic freedom.

The Union Health Ministry had defended the controversial notification and had told the Delhi High Court last month hearing a petition challenging the move that it was willing to provide certain “exemptions”, including allowing use of tobacco by actors depicting historical personalities.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is expected to file its affidavit in the High Court tomorrow. The notification, which was earlier to be enforced from October 2, was now proposed to be implemented from January.