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PATI, PATNI AUR PAN MASALA KI KAHANI
Actor Arbaaz Khan reacts sharply to Delhi government’s letter to his wife to make him stop endorsing pan masala products
Delhi government seriously believes that men listen to their wives more than anyone else. In a bid to encourage actors to give up endorsing pan masala products, Dr SK Arora, additional director (health), Delhi Government, claims to have written to five actors — Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Govinda, Arbaaz Khan and Sunny Leone, explaining the harmful effects of pan masala and tobacco. Failing to get a response from the male actors, he decided to post letters to their wives — Gauri Khan, Kajol, Sunita, Malaika — hoping that the spouses will persuade their husbands to give up the endorsement campaigns. The actors are far from being amused!
“I don’t understand what kind of persuasion this is. I am endorsing the product, not my wife. If the government has an issue with it, they should write to me. I never received any letter from the government in the first place. Had I known this earlier I would have definitely adhered to their request. When I signed the contract with the brand, I was told that the product only has natural ingredients that are not harmful,” says actor Arbaaz Khan. The other actors in question did not respond to our request for comments.
Dr SK Arora, however, maintains that the letters were indeed sent out and actor Sunny Leone had even responded. “We only got a response from Sunny Leone where she said that she will not take up fresh contracts for pan masala,” he says. Sunny’s team confirmed the same and said that they are looking into what can be done about the present contract.
The contents of the mail urged the wives of these actors to persuade their husband to give up endorsement of pan masala products. Since the department could not access the email ids of the actors and their wives, they decided to post letters to their home address. As Dr Arora says, “We’ve also issued a strict compliance notice to actor Ajay Devgn, under Section 5 of Central Tobacco Act, which has legal value. We believe that the product that he endorses is a surrogate ad for the brand’s gutkha products.”
Actors are role models, so these companies rope in film stars to endorse their products Dr SK Arora, additional director
(health), Delhi Government