Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan cocked a snook at Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss for his appeal to him and other actors to quit smoking onscreen saying actors should not be asked to curb “creative liberties”.

Shah Rukh took the cover of creative liberties while responding to Ramadoss’s remarks that he and super star Amitabh Bachchan should stop setting a bad example by smoking in public and in films since “children have their first puff of cigarette due to celebrites”.

“As filmmakers we should have creative liberties because cinema is all about make believe, Shah Rukh said a day after the remarks by Ramadoss, who has been campaigning for a ban on smoking in films. The star, however, said he agreed with Ramadoss on his concern over an alarming increase in young people taking to smoking.

Ramadoss had said Shah Rukh should not have smoked in the stands while watching a cricket match in Mumbai and that he and Bachchan could learn a thing or two from superstar Rajnikanth regarding smoking onscreen.

Shah Rukh (42) has earned the ire of anti-smoking groups on different occasions for lighting up in public in violation of a 2004 ban.