Man sues PVR-INOX for wasting 25 minutes on ads; wins
What's the story
A Bengaluru-based consumer court has ruled in favor of a local resident who filed a lawsuit against PVR Cinemas and INOX for screening long advertisements before a movie.
In its ruling, the consumer court cited "unfair trade practice" and emphasized that "time is money."
The court has also directed the multiplex chain to mention the actual start times of movies on tickets, excluding advertisement durations.
Unfair practice
Court criticizes 'unfair trade practice' of extended ad screenings
In his complaint, Abhishek MR claimed that he went to watch Sam Bahadur on December 26 at a PVR. The film was supposed to begin at 4:05pm but started only at 4:30pm after 25 minutes of ads.
This, he said, affected his plans to return to work.
Siding with the complainant, the court noted that "in the new era, time is considered money...25-30 minutes is a considerable amount of time to sit idle in the theater and watch unnecessary ads."
Ad limit
Court orders PVR and INOX to limit ad duration
The court directed PVR and INOX to stop running ads beyond the scheduled start time of movies.
It also noted that while cinemas are required to screen public service announcements (PSAs), government guidelines limit PSA duration to 10 minutes.
The court observed that 95% of the ads played before Sam Bahadur were commercial and not PSAs, further validating Abhishek's claim.
Compensation
PVR and INOX ordered to compensate Abhishek
PVR and INOX defended themselves saying pre-film advertisements cater to latecomers and meet legal requirements to screen PSAs.
However, the court ruled against them, directing them to pay ₹20,000 to Abhishek for mental distress and ₹8,000 for legal expenses. They were also fined ₹1 lakh for indulging in unfair trade practices.
Online ticketing platform BookMyShow was not held liable as it doesn't control film schedules.