Actor Vijay in soup for posing with cigarettes

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control, an NGO, is planning to sue actor Vijay for posing with cigarettes in posters of his upcoming movie ‘Sarkar’. Any such representation that could promote use of tobacco is prohibited under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.

“Actor Vijay had posed with tobacco products in his earlier movies also. When confronted, he and his team would immediately apologise. By then, they manage to get publicity to their movie. This appears to be a marketing strategy,” says S Cyril Alexander, forum’s State convener.

This time, the NGO is determined to drag the actor to court. The film’s team did not respond despite efforts by Express multiple times to get their views on the issue.

The first-look poster of actor Vijay’s upcoming film Sarkar were released on Thursday. The movie is being directed by A R Murugadoss and produced by Sun Pictures.

PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss also came down heavily on the actor and tweeted “Shame on Actor Vijay for promoting smoking in this first look of his next movie” with hashtags #ActResponsibly #DoNotPromoteSmoking.

“On the one side, anti-tobacco campaigners are working towards tobacco free schools and youngsters. On the other side, actors such as Vijay are promoting tobacco use, thereby causing a serious damage to public health,” Cyril said. The NGO has sent legal notices to the film crew.