Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues show-cause/legal notices to actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over a “Vimal Elaichi” advertisement. The regulator says the ad amounts to indirect promotion of a pan masala product that is prohibited in the state.
NDTV and other outlets report that the notices are framed as enforcement action under anti-tobacco advertising rules, including the idea of “surrogate advertising,” where an approved or permitted product is used to promote a banned one. Times of India similarly says the FDA asks the actors to clarify their involvement in the campaign. Mint also reports the allegations relate to their chewing elaichi brand being treated as a surrogate for Vimal Pan Masala.
While the outlets consistently identify the same three actors and the same regulator, they differ mainly in wording—some emphasize “show-cause” notices, others describe them as legal notices—and in how they characterize the advertisement as surrogate promotion of the banned pan masala.
