Bachchan apologises for smoking ad

Panaji: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has apologised to an anti-tobacco group, which has slapped a legal notice on him for appearing in an advertisement showing him smoking a cigar.

"I am deeply apologetic of the advertisement that has hurt the sentiments of the people at large and organisations such as yours," Bachchan said in a letter to the the general secretary of National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) India Shekhar Salkar.

The publicity banner carrying my photograph was a still from my film 'Family' in which I am portraying the character of an underworld don, he said in the letter released by Salkar at a press conference here.

"While I was not instrumental in designing the publicity campaign, I find from the photograph of the billboard stated to be put out on NH 17 in Goa, that the manufacturers of Anchor electric switches are seeking to promote their own products.

Neither A B Corp Limited nor I have promoted Anchor products or tobacco products," he said.

"I have made a note of anti-tobacco legislation and informed my producers and told them to take immediate steps so that no such violation takes place as far as I am concerned," he said.

The NOTE had issued a legal notice to Bachchan on January 5 for violating Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 through a hoarding of his movie 'Family' which shows him smoking a cigar.

The hoardings were prominently displayed on the National Highway near Panaji.