30-yr old Bengaluru man sues PVR, INOX for 'wasting' 25 minutes of his life, court says...

A 30-year-old man in Bengaluru sued PVR Cinemas, INOX, and BookMyShow for "wasting" 25 minutes of his time by running long advertisements before the screening of a movie. He said that this caused him "mental agony" during a show of the Vicky Kaushal-starrer Sam Bahadur.

In his complaint, the man identified as Abhishek MR alleged that in 2023, he booked 3 tickets for show of Sam Bahadur for a 4:05 pm show and the movie was supposed to end by 6:30 pm post which he planned to return to work.

The movie, however, began at 4:30 pm after ads and trailers of various other movies were streamed, which "wasted nearly 30 minutes of the time."

Abhishek said in his complaint that since he could not attend other arrangements and appointments scheduled for the day, he faced losses that can't be calculated in money terms.

He mentioned this clearly came under unfair trade practice as they wrongly communicated the show timings to take undue advantage by playing advertisements. Hearing the man's plea, the consumer court said "time is considered as money".

The court said in its order that 25-30 minutes is a lot to "sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts". The court added that it is hard for people with tight schedules to watch unnecessary ads. 

PVR and INOX, on the other hand, told the court that they are obligated to screen certain public service announcements (PSA) under the law to spread awareness. 

The court ruled that PSAs must be screened 10 minutes before the film starts and during the intermission before the second half. It also said that BookMyShow was not liable for any damages whatsoever. 

The court directed PVR Cinemas and INOX to pay ₹50,000 for unfair trade practice and wasting the time of the complainant, ₹5,000 for mental agony, and ₹10,000 for "filing the complaint and other reliefs".

PVR and INOX were slapped with a penalty of ₹1 lakh, which has to be deposited to the consumer welfare fund.