The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that films should become instruments of change and promote social cohesion and they must also promote communal harmony, national integration and patriotism without diminishing their popular appeal. He was addressing the gathering after releasing the Commemorative Stamp and a Book on Shri B. Nagi Reddy, in Chennai today. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Banwarilal Purohit, the Minister for Higher Education, Tamil Nadu, Shri K. P. Anbalagan, the Chief Post Master General, Tamil Nadu, Shri M. Sampath and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.The Vice President said that Shri Nagi Reddy was an eminent publisher, successful film producer, philanthropist and a great humanist. He further said that one of his most successful projects was the launch of the children’s magazine ‘Chandamama’ in 1947. The fact that Chandmama also had a Braille edition in four languages for the visually impaired showed the humanist in him, he added.The Vice President has asked film makers to make conscious efforts to raise their voice against evils like corruption, casteism, alcoholism, and drug addiction, atrocities on women, gender-based discrimination, feudalism and dangers of religious or ideological extremism. He further said that people in film business must question themselves whether films are holding a mirror to the happenings in the society? It is a complete fallacy to think that clean and purely entertaining films cannot be made without depicting violence, crime and obscenity, he added.The Vice President said that violence and obscenity should not be promoted disproportionately in the name of entertainment, especially when films have a major impact on the masses. He further said that as all are aware, cinema is a powerful medium of communication. In the present times of growing violence, intolerance and crime, film makers have a huge responsibility to make message-oriented films and films have to be entertaining as well, he added.