Chennai: The Tamil Nadu health department has issued a notice to actor Vijay and director AR Murugadoss for the poster of their upcoming film Sarkar, which shows the actor posing with a cigarette.
The notice states that the poster should be removed from all mediums immediately, and if not, the state government would initiate actions against the actor and the filmmaker. It further states that no promotional material of the movie can endorse smoking.
The first look poster of the movie, released in June, had drawn flak from several quarters, with critics saying that it promoted smoking as impressionable and young fans may view this as their icon’s endorsement of the hazardous habit.
Former health minister Anbumani Ramadoss also took to Twitter to slam Vijay for allegedly promoting smoking through the poster. Stating that he would have looked more stylish without the cigarette, he tweeted, "Shame on Actor Vijay for promoting Smoking in the first look of his next movie".
He added the hashtags #ActResponsibly and #DoNotPromoteSmoking with his tweet. He told News 18 that his party, the PMK, will raise its voice against any actor who promotes smoking in films.
Actor Vijay is not a stranger to controversies. His 2017 release Mersal had also landed him into hot water as the BJP had taken objection to certain scenes in the film, saying that it mocked the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.
There have been speculations that Vijay may enter politics, following in the footsteps of several superstars of Tamil cinema before him. Vijay's father had said he wants his son to enter the political arena. Recently, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan had in an interactive session on social media said he would welcome Vijay in politics.
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