Bengaluru man sues PVR for wasting his time with movie ads, wins case

A consumer court in Bengaluru recently ruled in favour of a man who sued PVR Cinemas and INOX (now merged with PVR) for wasting his time with long commercial advertisements before the film Sam Bahadur in 2024. The court directed that movie tickets should clearly state the actual start time of the film, excluding the time spent on advertisements, according to a report by Bar and Bench.

The complainant, Abhishek MR, claimed that the 25-minute delay caused by these advertisements disrupted his schedule, as he had planned to return to work immediately after the movie. He filed a case against PVR Cinemas, BookMyShow, and INOX.

While the court found that BookMyShow could not be blamed, as it has no control over the timings of the films, it did direct PVR and INOX to avoid running long advertisements that waste the time of punctual moviegoers.


The court made it clear that time is valuable, stating, "25-30 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." The ruling emphasised that cinema chains should respect the time of their viewers.

PVR Cinemas and INOX were ordered to compensate Abhishek MR with Rs 20,000 for mental distress and inconvenience, along with Rs 8,000 to cover the cost of filing the complaint. Additionally, they were fined Rs 1 lakh as punitive damages.

In their defence, PVR and INOX argued that the extended advertisements were meant to accommodate late arrivals, who are often delayed by security checks. However, the court ruled it unfair for punctual viewers to be forced to watch long advertisements as a result.

Inputs from agencies