The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued show cause notices to Bollywood actors Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over their advertisement for Vimal Elaichi, alleging that it amounts to surrogate advertising for Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in the state.
The Maharashtra FDA has stepped up action against the sale and promotion of tobacco and pan masala in the state, with the three actors now coming under the regulator’s scrutiny.
The notices, issued this week, ask Devgn, Khan and Shroff to explain their roles in the advertisement. The FDA said the advertisement creates an association with the Vimal Pan Masala brand and could amount to its indirect promotion under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
“Upon examination of the said advertisement, it prima facie appears that the advertisement promotes the Vimal brand, which is mainly associated with Pan Masala, a product prohibited for manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale in the State of Maharashtra for a period of one year, with effect from the date specified in the Prohibition Order dated the 13th July, 2026, issued by the Commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra State, under Section 30(2)(a) of the FSS Act, 2006,” the notice states.
The FDA said this marks the first time it has started examining surrogate advertising. In this case, the regulator said the advertisement’s presentation, dialogue, product name and market context raise a “serious question” over whether it constitutes indirect or surrogate promotion of a prohibited tobacco-related product.
All three actors participated in the advertisement as brand endorsers.
Maharashtra has prohibited gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine since 2012. Under commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, the Maharashtra FDA has been taking strict action against the sale and promotion of tobacco.
The FDA has also been cracking down on gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine and coordinating with police to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against eligible cases involving organised networks dealing in gutkha, tobacco or nicotine-containing pan masala and similar banned products.
The regulator has invoked Section 24 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which restricts misleading and deceptive food advertisements. It has also cited Section 53, which provides for a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for anyone who is “party to the publication” of a misleading food advertisement.
