Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has said that celebrity status will not shield Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff from regulatory action over their appearance in a Vimal Elaichi advertisement. The three actors were issued show-cause notices by the Maharashtra FDA, which stated that the advertisement amounted to surrogate promotion of Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in the state.

In an interview with , Mundhe said the FDA has already moved ahead with adjudication and prosecution proceedings in the case involving one actor who did not respond to the notice.

“According to you they may be stars, but according to me they are only advertisers in this case. So I am looking at them as violators of the law, and the law will take its own course. That’s why we have started taking action,” Mundhe said.

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Why Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff received notices

The FDA issued the notices on August 11 and gave the actors 15 days to respond. Mundhe said two of them replied, while one did not, although he did not identify them.

“We have taken this action as per the law,” Mundhe said.

“In one case where they have not responded, we are starting the adjudicating and prosecution proceedings,” he said.

The two actors who responded argued that responsibility lay with the manufacturer. The FDA will hear their responses, Mundhe said.

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“We are giving them a hearing. My officer, the assistant commissioner who issued the notices, will be giving the hearing,”.

Asked whether Shah Rukh Khan’s team had responded, Mundhe said, “Most likely he has not responded, but I’m not too sure about it.”

What does the law say about celebrity endorsers?

Mundhe rejected the argument that celebrities have no responsibility when a manufacturer is behind the product.

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“There are clearly advertising regulations as per the Food Safety Act. [The regulations] talk about who the advertiser is, and there is a responsibility very specifically cast upon the person or institution who is advertising. There is a responsibility cast upon the person who is advertising it, including to take due diligence about what he or she is endorsing. To say that it is not upon them is wrong… Not only morally, but legally I’m talking about, because I am here as a regulator,” he said.

What Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn said earlier

Shah Rukh Khan had previously defended his decision to endorse products that are legally available in the market. During an interview with CNN-IBN, when journalist Karan Thapar questioned celebrities promoting products considered unhealthy, the actor said, “I would appeal to any authority to ban it; don’t let it be sold in our country. If smoking is bad, stop the production of cigarettes. If you think soft drinks are bad, don’t allow them to be made. My logic is you’re not stopping them because they bring in revenue. You’re not stopping certain products because they’re revenue sources for the government. Then don’t stop my revenue. I’m an actor. I’m supposed to do a job and earn from it. And very clearly, if you think something is wrong, stop it. Stop making it.”

Ajay Devgn, who has also featured in Vimal campaigns, defended his association with the brand in 2022, saying he was endorsing elaichi and not pan masala.

“It is a personal choice. When you do something, you also see how harmful it would be. Some things are harmful, some are not. I would say it without naming it because I don’t want to promote it; I was doing elaichi. What I feel is that, more than advertisements, if certain things are so wrong, then they should not be sold,” he had told SCREEN.

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Akshay Kumar had also appeared with Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn in a Vimal Elaichi campaign in 2022. After facing backlash, Kumar apologised, said he was stepping away from the brand and announced that he would donate his endorsement fee to a cause. He was later replaced by Tiger Shroff in the campaign.

Delhi High Court’s order in the Vimal Elaichi case

On September 14, the Delhi High court dismissed a petition filed by PB Agro LLP, the master licensee for Vimal Elaichi, which had sought to quash the notices issued to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that the Delhi High Court did not have territorial jurisdiction over the matter because the notices had been issued by the Maharashtra FDA in Mumbai.