A Bengaluru consumer court ordered PVR Cinemas and INOX (now merged with PVR) to make sure that movie tickets mention the actual start time of a movie without including the commercial advertisements before it starts, a report by Bar and Bench said.
This comes after a man filed a case in the court claiming that 25 minutes of his time was wasted during a PVR screening of "Sam Bahadur" in 2023 as he was forced to watch long commercial ads after reaching the multiplex.
The cinema goer sued PVR Cinemas, BookMyShow and INOX. The complainant, Abhishek MR said the delay made it difficult for him to get back to work after the movie show like he had planned.
‘Time is money’
The court observed that BookMyShow can't be blamed for this, since it has no control over movie show timings but ordered PVR and INOX to not waste a movie-goer's time by showing long commercial advertisements.
"In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of others time and money. 25-30 (minutes) is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts. It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule watching unnecessary advertisements. However, they make their own arrangements to get some relaxation with family. (This does) not mean that people have no other work to do," the court said.
Compensated for mental agony
{{/usCountry}}"In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of others time and money. 25-30 (minutes) is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts. It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule watching unnecessary advertisements. However, they make their own arrangements to get some relaxation with family. (This does) not mean that people have no other work to do," the court said.
Compensated for mental agony
{{/usCountry}}The commission directed PVR to clearly mention the actual movie start time on tickets and to stop running advertisements beyond the scheduled showtime.
Additionally, PVR Cinemas and Inox were ordered to compensate the complainant with ₹20,000 for mental distress and inconvenience, along with ₹8,000 to cover the costs incurred in filing the complaint.
The two multiplex chains were also fined ₹1 lakh as punitive damages.
Defending their actions, PVR Cinemas and Inox argued that extended advertisements benefit late-arriving moviegoers delayed by security checks. However, the commission ruled that it was unfair to force punctual viewers to sit through prolonged ads for this reason.