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The Velaiyilla Pattathari team is in trouble with an anti-tobacco group again. Following the movie’s release, several posters featuring actor Dhanush smoking were seen all over the city. An anti tobacco crusade group has condemned this and demanded that the posters be removed at once. The convener of the Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control, Cyril Alexander, declared that this is a ‘direct violation’ of Section 5 of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 which ‘prohibits the direct and indirect advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products’.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the movie said, “all posters depicting cigarettes were removed much earlier. Right now, new ones without the cigarettes are being used. Velaiyilla Pattathari is not a movie which will influence the youth badly. We have shown the bad effects of smoking and alcohol abuse in the film and have carried all the appropriate warning labels.”