Indian Theater Chain Causes ‘Mental Agony’ With Too Many Ads, Court Rules

An Indian court ordered a movie theater chain to pay damages to a film-goer for wasting his time and causing “mental agony” because it played too many commercials before the film began, CNN reported.

The case began after a man filed a complaint against the PVR INOX theater company, saying the theater wasted his time, forced him to cancel work commitments, and led him to suffer mentally after it showed 25 minutes of commercials before screening the movie in December 2023.

The schedule at the PVR multiplex in the southern city of Bangalore suggested the 2-hour, 25-minute war drama, “Sam Bahadur,” was due to be screened from 4:05 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. but it finished later than expected due to public service announcements and commercials that caused the complainant, 31-year-old lawyer Abhishek M. R., “losses which cannot be calculated in terms of money,” he said.

Abhishek sued PVR INOX for $574 in damages, $57 for mental agony, and $115 to cover legal costs.

Bangalore’s District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission agreed with the plaintiff and ruled last month in Abhishek’s favor, saying that nowadays, time is as valuable as money and people can’t afford to “sit idle in the theatre” and watch unnecessary commercials, NBC News reported.

The movie chain claimed it was required to show 10 minutes of public service announcements before screenings, but the court ruled it violated regulations by playing ads instead, mandated that movies start on time, and ordered the chain to pay the complainant $230 in damages and $92 in costs.

The chain will also have to pay $1,148 to the Consumer Welfare Fund, an organization that protects consumers.