The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued show-cause notices to Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over their association with a Vimal Elaichi advertisement.
According to the regulator, the advertisement may amount to surrogate advertising for Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in Maharashtra. The FDA has questioned whether the campaign indirectly promotes the Vimal pan masala brand through the elaichi product.
The notices were issued this week and ask the actors to explain their role in the advertisement. The notices were reportedly served to Ajay Devgn at his Juhu residence, Shah Rukh Khan at Mannat in Bandra, and Tiger Shroff through his production house.
The Maharashtra FDA has cited Section 24 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, which deals with misleading food advertisements. It has also referred to Section 53, under which a person involved in publishing a misleading food advertisement can face a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh.
The regulator said the advertisement’s presentation, dialogue, product name and market context raise concerns about possible indirect promotion of a prohibited tobacco-related product. The actors have been asked to respond to the allegations.
Maharashtra has maintained a prohibition on gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine since 2012. The latest prohibition came into effect on July 13, 2026, for another one-year period.
The FDA has also intensified its crackdown on banned tobacco-related products across the state. Between May 25 and July 31, officials reportedly raided 658 establishments, seized banned products worth around Rs 15.11 crore, registered 519 FIRs and made 701 arrests.
The controversy surrounding Vimal Elaichi is not new. In 2018, the Directorate General of Health Services had issued notices to the company promoting Vimal Elaichi, alleging indirect advertising of tobacco products. The matter subsequently went through legal proceedings, with the Delhi High Court in 2024 dismissing appeals against trial court orders that had allowed advertising of tobacco-free products while the question of surrogate advertising remained contested.
The latest FDA action puts the spotlight once again on celebrity endorsements and the regulatory scrutiny surrounding advertisements for products associated with banned tobacco and pan masala brands.
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