Maharashtra FDA Issues Notices to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued show-cause notices to actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Tiger Shroff over their appearance in a Vimal Elaichi advertisement. The regulatory authority has alleged that the commercial could amount to surrogate promotion of Vimal Pan Masala.

The regulatory action comes fourteen years after the state first launched a major crackdown on the advertising of gutkha, pan masala, and scented supari. The latest notices mark a resurgence in the authority's scrutiny of surrogate advertising practices involving prominent film personalities.

Former Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Mahesh Zagade, who spearheaded the initial 2012 enforcement drive, noted that the previous crackdown had forced gutkha and pan masala companies to withdraw their advertisements from television broadcasts and public hoardings. That earlier intervention also stopped brand sponsorships for Ganpati mandals across Mumbai and Pune.

The FDA's latest move targets the promotional campaign featuring the three actors as part of its ongoing oversight on surrogate marketing.