A man in India has won a case against a major cinema chain, PVR INOX, and ticket booking platform BookMyShow for “wasting” 25 minutes of his time by running lengthy trailers before the screening of the movie.
Abhishek MR, 30, filed a complaint in December 2023 after he booked three tickets for a Bollywood movie for a 4.05pm show which eventually started at 4.30pm. He alleged that he was supposed to return to work after the movie was supposed to end by 6.30pm.
He alleged that the incident caused a "mental agony" and “wasted nearly 30 minutes of the time", demanding compensation for the whole ordeal.
"The complainant could not attend other arrangements and appointments which were scheduled for the day, has faced losses that cannot be calculated in terms of money as a compensation," the complaint read.
The consumer court in Bangalore has directed PVR INOX to pay Rs 100,000 ($1,150) in penalty, an additional Rs 50,000 ($575) for causing mental agony and Rs 10,000 ( $115) for charges incurred by the complainant to file a complaint.
“In the new era, time is considered as money, each one’s time is very precious, no one has the right to gain benefit out of others’ time and money,” it said.
It added "25-30 is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts".
"It is very hard for busy people with tight schedules to watch unnecessary advertisements," it said.
The court however did not hold BookMyShow, the ticketing aggregator, liable for any claims as it has no control over the streaming of advertisements.
The cinemas defended themselves by saying that have to play the government-mandated public service advertisements and that they have to be accommodating for viewers who run a few minutes late.
“The viewers who seated early in the theatre watch advertisements silently till the scheduled time. Taking beyond the scheduled time for the purpose of telecasting the advertisements that too commercial advertisements, is unjust and unfair,” the court said.
