Movie-Goer Successfully Sues Cinema For Too Many Ads

Indian cinema chain sued by customer over lengthy pre-film commercials.

For some, the commercials that precede the start of a film are all part of the experience and the perfect time to queue up for popcorn and soda. But for one man in India, the lengthy marathon of cinema advertising was so infuriating that he took the matter to the courts - and won.

Last December, Abhishek MR, a 30-year-old man from Bangalore, booked tickets with friends to watch wartime drama Sam Bahadur but, even though the scheduled time he had booked the ticket for was 4.05pm, he found himself having to sit through 25 minutes of adverts before the film actually began.

Since he had planned to return to work straight after the movie, Abhishek MR was annoyed by what he felt was a costly disruption to his life. He filed a lawsuit against PVR Inox, India’s largest cinema multiplex chain, stating that: “The complainant could not attend other arrangements and appointments which were scheduled for the day and has faced losses that cannot be calculated in terms of money as compensation.”

In its ruling earlier this month, the consumer court proved highly sympathetic to Abhishek MR’s case and ordered for the cinema to grant him 50,000 INR (£450 / $570) for wasting his time and 5,000 INR (£45) for mental agony, as well as cover his legal expenses.

“In the new era, time is considered as money, each one’s time is very precious,” the court ruling stated. “Twenty-five to 30 minutes is a considerable amount of time to sit idle in the theatre and watch unnecessary ads. People with tight schedules do not have time to waste.”

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