Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff Sent Show-Cause Notices Over a Cardamom Ad
Maharashtra's food and drug regulator wants the three actors to explain why their Vimal Elaichi campaign shouldn't count as surrogate advertising for a banned tobacco product, and has told them to pull it in the meantime.
By Bolly Bourse Desk
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has issued formal notices to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over their endorsement of Vimal Elaichi, raising the question of whether the campaign functions as indirect promotion for a pan masala brand rather than the cardamom product it's officially selling. The regulator's concern centers on the shared Vimal name and branding, which it says could reinforce recognition of a restricted tobacco-related product even while the ad itself only shows elaichi.
The actors have been given fifteen days to respond and explain why further legal action shouldn't follow, under provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act. In the meantime, the FDA has directed all three to stop participating in the campaign and pull existing promotional material from their own social accounts and any platforms under their control, along with providing details of what due diligence was done, by them or their teams, before signing on.
The actors have been given fifteen days to respond and explain why further legal action shouldn't follow, under provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act.
This isn't new terrain for Bollywood's biggest names. Elaichi and pan masala ads sharing a brand identity have drawn scrutiny for years, and several of the same actors have faced versions of this exact question before. What's different here is the specific, current regulatory action: a formal notice with a response deadline, rather than public criticism or a petition. Nothing has been decided yet, the notices simply put the burden on the actors to explain their side.
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