Madras High Court quashes complaint against Dhanush, Aishwarya Rajnikanth over poster of film VIP showing the actor smoking cigarette

The Madras High Court on Monday quashed a complaint lodged in 2022 against actor Dhanush, director-producer Aishwarya Rajinikanth and some others alleging they had violated law by depicting the actor smoking a cigarette in the poster for his 2014 film, VIP..Justice N Anand Venkatesh quashed the complaint that had been lodged before the local metropolitan magistrate's court by one Cyril Alexander.The complainant had claimed that Aishwarya Rajnikanth, who was the producer of the film, had violated Section 5 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), which prohibits the promotion or consumption of cigarettes or any other tobacco products either directly or indirectly through advertisements via any medium..Dhanush in turn had told the Court that film posters and scenes were not advertisements or promotions. Besides, the filmmakers had carried disclaimers against cigarette smoking in accordance with the CBFC guidelines. .While quashing the complaint, the High Court agreed that the said poster cannot be construed as advertisements promoting the use of tobacco products. "In the instant case, the only allegation that has been made in the complaint is that the advertisement banners of the movie were found to carry the picture of the lead actor prominently smoking cigarette. This act, per se, cannot be brought within the purview of Section 5 of the COTPA since the display was not done by persons engaged in the production, supply or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products and the person, who was depicted as smoking cigarette, was not under any contract with the entity or the person engaged in production, supply or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products nor he was promoting their product," the Court said. .Senior Counsel PS Raman and advocate Vijayan Subramanian appeared for Dhanush.Additional Public Prosecutor A Damodaranappeared for the respondent State government. Advocate S Sathiachandran appeared for the original complainant. .[Read Order]