Sunny Deol Says His ‘Conscience’ Won’t Allow Pan Masala Ads; Old Commercial Resurfaces Amid Maharashtra FDA Crackdown

Sunny Deol has drawn attention to the ethics of celebrity advertising after saying he would not endorse pan masala because such promotions do not align with his beliefs. His comments arrived as Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration stepped up scrutiny of celebrity-backed advertisements linked to pan masala brands, including a Vimal Elaichi campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff.

But the story did not end with Deol’s declaration. Within days, an older advertisement featuring the actor alongside Ravi Kishan and Vijay Raaz resurfaced online. The commercial promoted a meetha-paan/pan-masala product, with packaging visible in the advertisement carrying the declarations “No Tobacco” and “No Nicotine.” 

That older commercial creates an obvious tension with Deol’s recent remarks. At the same time, it should not be inaccurately conflated with the regulatory case involving the three Vimal endorsers: the Maharashtra FDA notices reviewed for this report concern Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff, not Sunny Deol. 

What Sunny Deol actually said

During a conversation with journalist and podcaster Shubhankar Mishra, Deol was questioned about why he had stayed away from pan masala advertisements despite the large endorsement fees associated with such campaigns.

Deol said, “I don't do pan masala ads and kabhi karunga bhi nahi.” He went on to explain that offers do come his way but that he does not want to promote something he does not believe in.

He also summed up his approach by saying that there are things he turns down because his “zameer”, or conscience, does not permit him to do them.

Those remarks are attributable directly to Deol's podcast conversation. They are not merely a description supplied by an entertainment publication.

The old commercial changes the context

After those statements circulated, an advertisement from Deol’s earlier career resurfaced.

The video features Sunny Deol, Ravi Kishan and Vijay Raaz. In the commercial, Deol appears at a paan shop and participates in the promotion of a packaged meetha-paan/pan-masala product. Separate reporting identifying the campaign describes it as Santoor Meetha Pan. A filmmaker’s professional portfolio also independently lists a “Santoor meetha pan masala” advertisement with Sunny Deol among past commercial work.

Importantly, visible packaging in the resurfaced advertisement carries the wording “No Tobacco” and “No Nicotine.” That detail does not erase the contradiction with Deol’s broad statement about pan masala advertisements, but it does matter when describing precisely what he had previously promoted.

There is no indication in the material reviewed that Deol has yet issued a detailed public explanation reconciling the old advertisement with his 2026 comments.

For that reason, the responsible framing is not to accuse him of deliberately lying. The verifiable fact is narrower: his present-day declaration that he does not do pan masala advertisements sits uneasily beside an older commercial in which he appears to promote a product described and packaged as pan masala/meetha paan.

Why Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff received FDA notices

Deol’s comments happened against a separate and considerably more consequential regulatory development.

The Maharashtra FDA issued show-cause notices to Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff over their participation in advertising for Vimal Elaichi. The regulator alleges that the campaign could constitute indirect or surrogate promotion of Vimal Pan Masala, whose sale is prohibited in Maharashtra.

The actors were given 15 days to provide written explanations and supporting documents connected with the endorsement campaign. The notices also sought details relating to their association with the advertisement.

Reuters reported that the Maharashtra authority also asked the celebrities to stop appearing in the campaign, remove related promotional material from their social-media accounts and provide information concerning their endorsement arrangements. As of that report, responses from the actors and the company had not been received.

The notices are show-cause proceedings, not findings that the actors have committed an offence. That distinction is essential.

What exactly is surrogate advertising?

Surrogate advertising involves promoting a legally advertisable product in a manner that preserves or reinforces the identity of another product whose advertising is prohibited or restricted.

India’s Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs, expressly prohibit surrogate or indirect advertisements designed to circumvent legal restrictions. The guidelines state that factors such as the use of a brand name, logo, colour scheme, layout or presentation associated with a restricted product may be relevant when assessing whether an advertisement is surrogate promotion.

That is why an advertisement ostensibly selling cardamom can still attract scrutiny: regulators may examine whether the campaign is primarily sustaining the identity and recall of a separate restricted product.

At the same time, the government guidelines also make clear that simply sharing a brand or company name does not automatically make an advertisement surrogate advertising. The surrounding presentation and context matter.

Pan masala advertising already carries health-warning requirements

The broader debate is not limited to celebrity morality.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India rules require advertisements relating to pan masala to carry the warning that chewing pan masala is injurious to health. FSSAI’s labelling and display framework specifically requires that warning to be legible or audible in pan masala advertising.

This regulatory framework helps explain why endorsements around pan masala, mouth fresheners and associated extension brands receive particularly close scrutiny.

It also moves the conversation beyond whether individual actors personally consume a product. Celebrity endorsement can lend credibility and enormous visibility to a brand, which is precisely why advertising law places responsibilities not only on manufacturers but also on endorsers.

Sunny Deol is not among the actors named in the FDA notice

This is perhaps the most important factual distinction for readers following the controversy.

Sunny Deol has not been identified in the Maharashtra FDA notices concerning the Vimal Elaichi advertisement reviewed for this report. The named recipients are Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff.

Deol became part of the wider public discussion because his comments about refusing such advertisements emerged at almost the same time.

His resurfaced old commercial subsequently turned what initially looked like a simple ethical declaration into a more complicated question about how celebrities describe their past endorsement choices.

The Celebrity Hour Take

The strongest part of this story is not a comparison between one supposedly principled celebrity and three actors facing regulatory scrutiny.

That framing became too simplistic once Sunny Deol’s earlier advertisement resurfaced.

Instead, the episode shows why celebrity endorsement stories need both historical context and precise legal language. An actor’s present position can change over the course of a career; an old endorsement can complicate a current statement; and a show-cause notice does not amount to a finding of guilt.

Deol’s latest stance is clear: he says such endorsements no longer fit what he believes in. His older commercial is also part of the public record available for scrutiny. Those two facts can coexist without inventing an explanation on his behalf.

The larger development is regulatory. Maharashtra’s action suggests celebrity endorsements attached to brand-extension advertising may increasingly be examined not simply as entertainment marketing, but through the lens of consumer protection and public health.

Sources & Verification

This report was prepared by reviewing Sunny Deol’s remarks as reproduced from his conversation with Shubhankar Mishra, multiple independently published accounts of the resurfaced older advertisement, Maharashtra FDA notice reporting, Reuters’ coverage of the regulatory action, and Government of India/FSSAI rules dealing with surrogate advertising and pan masala warnings.

The Celebrity Hour has not treated Sunny Deol as a recipient of the Maharashtra FDA action. His past commercial has been described according to the visible product presentation and corroborating published material, including the important “No Tobacco” and “No Nicotine” labelling. No explanation from Deol addressing the resurfaced advertisement was located during this review.