Entertainment Society of Goa(ESG) and Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College and Hospital in collaboration with National Tobacco Control Programme, Directorate of Health Services, Goa commemorated ‘World No Tobacco Day’ by organising 8th Goa Anti-Tobacco Film Festival 2026 at Auditorium 1, Maquinez Palace, ESG, in Panaji on Sunday.
Yetindra M. Maralkar, IAS, Secretary (Health), Govt. of Goa, was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr. Sandesh Madkaikar, Chief Medical Officer, Non Communicable Disease Cell, Directorate of Health Services; Panaji, Dr. Amita Kenkre Kamat, Professor and Head, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College and Hospital, Bambolim-Goa and Dr. Ridhima Gaonkar, Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College, were also present.
The theme for this year’s festival was “Unmasking the appeal: Countering Nicotine & Tobacco Addiction”. The competition was held in two sections, National Section Ad films. and Goan section Ad films.
TheNational Section had 6 Ad films while the Goan Section comprised 9 Ad films. Dr. Harsha Rajadhyaksha, Deputy Director (Dental), Directorate of Health Services, Campal, Panaji-Goa, Dr. Devdutt Sail, Secretary, National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) India and Dhruv Sincro, Actor, Entrepreneur, made up the 3-member Jury and judged all the entries of ad-films.
National Section:
1st Prize of Rs. 1,00,000 was won by – The Parasite by Gopal Bhimber
2nd Prize of Rs. 50,000 – Unmask the appeal by Karthik Karekar
3rd Prize of Rs. 30,000 – Funny Creatures by Rishab Abiezeer Britto
Goa Section:
1st Prize of Rs. 50,000 – Slow Life Pvt. Ltd. by Sangam Gaude
2nd Prize of Rs. 30,000 – Mool (Roots) by Ashirwad Moving Images
3rd Prize of Rs. 20,000 – Majo Papa by Yogesh Shirodkar
Dr Amita Kenkre Kamat, Professor, Goa Dental College, welcomed the gathering and also briefed about the purpose of this festival. She said that the aim of the Anti-Tobacco Film Festival was to spread the message of harmful or ill-effects of tobacco use. She also said that nowadays tobacco products are dressed to lure the youth, behind appearance lies dangerous reality like disease and death.
Dr. Sandesh Madkaikar in his address, said that smoking is a slow poison and contributes too many diseases. He also highlighted today’s theme and said that awareness is the only tool that can tackle smoking. Every individual and Media should take social initiative and continuous effort to fight against tobacco and its ill effects.
Yetindra M. Maralkar, IAS, said that that ESG in association with The Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College and Hospital has been successfully organising this festival since 2017 and it has become the calendar event thereon.
