Amitabh Bachchan steps down as the face of tobacco brand post backlash 

A day before his 79th birthday, Amitabh Bachchan withdraw his name from an advertising campaign promoting a tobacco brand. Bachchan stated that he had returned the money he'd received for promoting the brand.

The Bollywood superstar had faced backlash for featuring in an advertisement for a paan masala brand. Several of his fans had expressed displeasure over the actor's decision to endorse the brand.

A blog post, addressed by "the office of Mr Amitabh Bachchan", on Sunday night informed that he is no longer associated with the promotions.

"A few days after the commercial was aired, Mr Bachchan contacted the brand and stepped out of it last week. Upon checking why this sudden move - it was revealed that when Mr Bachchan became associated with the brand, he wasn't aware that it falls under surrogate advertising.

"Mr Bachchan has terminated the contract with the brand, has written to them his termination and has returned the money received for the promotion," the post read.

Last month, the National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), an NGO, had also appealed to Bachchan to not be part of advertisements that promote such brands.

In an open letter, NOTE president Dr Shekhar Salkar had said that the actor should withdraw from "surrogate" paan masala advertisements and support the cause of the anti-tobacco movement.