More trouble for Vijay, Murugadoss over Sarkar still; court admits plea by anti-tobacco activist 

There's more trouble for actor Vijay, director AR Murugadoss and Sun Pictures over the first look poster of the Tamil film Sarkar, which showed Vijay smoking a cigarette.

A plea filed by an anti-tobacco activist, identified as S Cyril Alexander, seeking to direct the trio to pay a sum of Rs10 crore each to the Royapettah Government Cancer Hospital as compensation for the poster, has been admitted by a division bench of the Madras high court.

The petitioner, in his plea, claimed that the poster in question was in violation of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulations of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act.

The first bench of chief justice Indira Banerjee and justice PT Asha, while admitting the plea, ordered notices to be issued to the Union minister of information and broadcasting, Tamil Nadu government, and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), returnable by 16 July.

Already, the Tamil Nadu health department has issued a notice to the actor, director and the production house asking them to withdraw the poster from his upcoming film Sarkar from all social media platforms and websites. Failure to do so would entail strict legal action, the health department had claimed in its notice.

This apart, a lawyer has filed a police complaint against the team over the poster in the film.