I contractually maintain to not endorse tobacco products, says Ajay Devgn after fan's appeal

A week after a cancer patient urged Ajay Devgn to stop advertising tobacco products, the Bollywood actor on Tuesday said he makes a conscious effort to not promote anything that impacts the society negatively.

Nanakram, a 40-year-old cancer patient from Rajasthan, had made a public appeal to Devgn to discontinue his association with tobacco products in the interest of the society.

The patient's family said that he was a fan of the actor and used the same product which the actor advertises for, but now realises that tobacco has had an adverse effect on his life.

Devgn told PTI he is in touch with the fan and even contractually maintains he will not promote tobacco.

"I have always maintained in my contracts that I am not promoting tobacco. Whatever the ads are, they are of ilaaichi (cardamom) and my contract says it will be non-tobacco. So if the same company is selling something else, I don't know what to do," he said.

The actor added at the most he can try his best not to smoke on screen if his character does not demand it.

"In my latest film, "De De Pyaar De", I'm playing a regular man who does not smoke. But if I'm playing a Malik bhai in a film like 'Company', how will it be without smoking? Without taking any names, we were playing somebody (real) who smoked. So it would have been wrong to not show it as it would not be true to the role," Devgn told PTI.

Also featuring Tabu and Rakul Preet Singh, "De De Pyaar De" is slated to be released Friday.