Overview

• The Bengaluru Urban Consumer Court ordered PVR INOX to pay over ₹1 lakh in penalties and compensation for showing excessive advertisements before a movie's scheduled start time.
• The complainant, Abhishek MR, argued that the delay caused him to miss work commitments and led to mental distress, prompting the court to award him ₹65,000 in damages.
• The court highlighted that cinemas must respect viewers' time and deemed the practice of running ads beyond scheduled showtimes as an unfair trade practice.
• PVR INOX defended its actions, citing obligations to show government-mandated public service announcements, but the court ruled these should fit within a 10-minute pre-movie window.
• The court also directed PVR INOX to clearly display actual movie start times on tickets to prevent similar issues in the future.