PVR-Inox ordered to pay Rs 1.2 lakh for showing long ads before movie screening
A Bengaluru man sued PVR-Inox for wasting his 25 minutes by streaming long ads before the screening of Vicky Kaushal's starrer film Sam Bahadur in 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
A district consumer forum in Bengaluru has slapped a Rs 1.2 lakh fine on theatre chain PVR-Inox for 'wasting' the time of viewers with long advertisements before the screening of the film.
Abhishek MR, a 30-year-old man sued PVR-Inox for wasting his 25 minutes by streaming long ads before the screening of Vicky Kaushal's starrer film Sam Bahadur in 2023. Complainant stated that he booked three tickets of Sam Bahadur film's evening show. While the movie timing was 4:05 pm, the film started at 4:30 pm as the multiplex chain streamed prolonged advertisements and trailers.
The complainant argued that the 25-minute delay ruined his schedule and made him miss important appointments.
Abhishek in his complaint wrote, "faced losses that cannot be calculated in terms of money as compensation". He said the company misled customers by providing incorrect show timing and forcing them to watch long commercials.
However, the Bengaluru Court has announced the verdict in Abhishek's favour. The consumer court has ordered PVR-Inox to pay Rs 20,000 to Abhishek for causing mental agony and inconvenience and Rs 8,000 towards the expenses he bore to file the complaint. Additionally, the multiplex chain has been fined Rs 1 lakh which needs to be deposited into the Consumer Welfare Fund within 30 days.
The court said, "25-30 minutes is not a small amount of time to sit idle in a theatre and watch whatever is telecasted". The court said consumers should not be forced to watch unnecessary ads in the theatres.
While the multiplex chain argued that it was legally required to screen Public Service Announcements for awareness campaigns, the consumer forum added that such ads can be reduced to 10 minutes before the movie and during the interval.
The court has dismissed the case against the BookMyShow ticket booking platform, stating that it has no control over ad duration inside theatres.
The court directed PVR Inox to mention the 'actual movie timing' on the tickets, and not to exhibit ads beyond the scheduled show times mentioned in the ticket.
Shares of PVR Inox were down 7.60 points to Rs 980.65 at 12:35 pm on Wednesday.
