Bengaluru: A Bengaluru man has won compensatory damages after he sued PVR INOX for wasting his time during screening of ‘Sam Bahadur.’ The man claimed that he was made to watch lengthy commercial advertisements before the actual movie began, which wasted 25 minutes of his time. A Bengaluru consumer court has now issued order and asked the PVR INOX to pay Rs 1 lakh as punitive damages.

Bar and Bench reported that the PVR INOX has also been asked to mention the actual time when the movie will be played, without including the commercial advertisements.

What Did The Consumer Court Say?

The Consumer court said, “”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.”

“It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule (to watch) unnecessary advertisements,” added the District Consumer Commission, Bengaluru.

In his complaint, the man said that he along with his family had went for 4:05 pm show of ‘Sam Bahadur’ in December 2023. However, the film started playing at 4:30 pm. Several advertisements were played which wasted their time and made it difficult to get back to work.

PVR INOX has been ordered to pay Rs 20,000 to the complainant for causing him mental agony and inconvenience; Rs 8,000 for the amount that was spent filing the complaint. Also, Rs 1 lakh as punitive damages for engaging in unfair trade practices.

However, the consumer forum observed that BookMyShow can’t be blamed for this, since it has no control over movie show timings or the ads telecast before movie shows.

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