Vijay, AR Murugadoss sent legal notice by Madras HC over Sarkar poster that shows actor smoking

Days after a poster for his film showing him with a cigarette kicked up a storm, the Madras High Court has issued a notice to actor Vijay and director AR Murugadoss regarding  the promotional poster of Sarkar, as per TV reports. The office of the Director of Public Health had sent a letter to Vijay on Friday, the director and the producer, directing them to withdraw the poster. Tobacco products must not be used for any promotional purposes as per the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 and its rules, he said. [caption id=“attachment_4564711” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Poster for Vijay-starrer Sarkar. Twitter[/caption] The 4 July letter ‘warning’ the actor, director and producer of legal action has already been sent by speed post, the official said. Similar letters asking several movie makers to not use tobacco products for promotion have been given in the past as well, for Tamil movies like Aruvi and Taramani. After promotional posters of Sarkar were released last month, it was strongly opposed by anti-tobacco NGOs and Pattali Makkal Katchi leader Anbumani Ramadoss  .

You’ll look more stylish without that cigarette.#SmokingKills #SmokingCausesCancer pic.twitter.com/UUvzgrffHN

— Dr ANBUMANI RAMADOSS (@draramadoss) June 21, 2018

The PMK has a long history of opposing promoting tobacco products in films or through other mediums. With inputs from Press Trust of India