Vijay, AR Murugadoss issued notice by Tamil Nadu health department for promoting smoking in Sarkar poster

After facing criticism from former Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss for holding a cigarette between his lips in the poster of Sarkar, actor Vijay has landed in hot waters again. This time, the Tamil Nadu health department has issued a notice to both Vijay and director AR Murugadoss for the same, according to News18. [caption id=“attachment_4679861” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Vijay in the Sarkar poster. Twitter[/caption]

Being Vijay’s 62nd outing, Sarkar is an important film of his career and is being marketed as Thalapathy 62. Last year too, Vijay had found himself in the midst of a raging controversy in connection with his blockbuster Mersal. The film had a few dialogues which criticised the Indian government’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit in Tamil Nadu had objected to them, deeming them “inaccurate and misleading” . Historically, onscreen smoking has always been a controversial subject in India and several actors have been pulled up for endorsing it. Vijay, too, is being criticised for allegedly encouraging and endorsing it posing with a cigarette in the poster. The makers are yet to respond to the state government’s notice.