Even as the issue of Maharashtra FDA’s notice to three Bollywood stars featuring in Vimal Elaichi ads simmers in legal corridors over issues relating to surrogate advertising of tobacco and similar products, India’s President Droupadi Murmu yesterday may have lent indirect support to such government actions by appealing to celebrities to avoid endorsing harmful products.

According to a PTI report yesterday from Gujarat’s Ekta Nagar, President Murmu urged popular film artists not to endorse products harmful to people’s health, saying a “true star” spreads light, not darkness, highlighting the impact of words and actions of celebrities on young minds.

“When successful artists speak about the benefits of a disciplined lifestyle, millions of children and young people emulate them.

“I urge popular artists not to endorse products that are harmful to people’s health. A true star is the one who spreads light, not darkness,” Murmu said.

The President, who spoke in Ekta Nagar yesterday, distributed the 72nd National Film Awards for 2024 in various categories of cinema in a glittering ceremony attended by top talents of the film industry.

Meanwhile, for the unversed, Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued notices to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff for appearing in the Vimal Elaichi advertisements because the campaign was suspected to be surrogate advertising for prohibited pan masala products.

The FDA’s stance was that using the brand name ‘Vimal’ for cardamom (elaichi) ads creates a direct visual and mental association with Vimal Pan Masala, a product banned in Maharashtra.

On September 18, in an interview with NDTV, Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe clarified two of the three actors have replied to the show-cause notices.

Describing the actors as “violators of the law”, Tukaram in the NDTV interview opined: “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.”

Earlier, according to a report in the Print, the Delhi High Court on September 14 rejected a plea by the company owning Vimal brand over jurisdictional issues pertaining to the Maharashtra FDA notices.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of Delhi HC observed that the “courts in Maharashtra are the more appropriate and convenient forum” for the challenge.