FDA issues show cause notices to Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over a Vimal Elaichi

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued show cause notices to Bollywood actors Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over their advertisement for Vimal Elaichi, alleging that it amounts to surrogate advertising for Vimal Pan Masala, a product prohibited in the state.

The Maharashtra FDA has stepped up action against the sale and promotion of tobacco and pan masala in the state, with the three actors now coming under the regulator’s scrutiny. The actors have been asked to submit a written explanation within 15 days as to why legal action should not be initiated against them.

The notices, issued this week, ask Devgn, Khan and Shroff to explain their roles



in the advertisement. The FDA said the advertisement creates an association with the Vimal Pan Masala brand and could amount to its indirect promotion under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

“Upon examination of the said advertisement, it prima facie appears that the advertisement promotes the Vimal brand, which is mainly associated with Pan Masala, a product prohibited for manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale in the State of Maharashtra for a period of one year, with effect from the date specified in the Prohibition Order dated the 13th July, 2026, issued by the Commissioner of Food Safety, Maharashtra State, under Section 30(2)(a) of the FSS Act, 2006,” the notice states.