Fed Up With 25-Minute Ads In PVR? This Bengaluru Man Just Sued PVR-INOX—and Won

A 30-year-old Bengaluru resident, Abhishek MR, was awarded ₹65,000 in damages after suing PVR Cinemas, INOX, and BookMyShow for causing "mental agony" by making him wait 25 minutes due to excessive advertisements before a movie screening.

In his complaint, Abhishek stated that he had booked three tickets for the 4:05 PM show of Sam Bahadur in 2023. Expecting the movie to conclude by 6:30 PM so he could return to work, he was frustrated when the screening was delayed until 4:30 PM due to prolonged ads and trailers, wasting nearly 30 minutes of his time.

He argued that this delay prevented him from attending pre-scheduled commitments, causing losses that couldn't be measured monetarily. He further claimed that the misleading show timings constituted an "unfair trade practice" as they were used to maximize ad revenue at the expense of viewers’ time.

Acknowledging his grievance, the consumer court directed PVR and INOX to compensate him with ₹50,000 for unfair trade practices, ₹5,000 for mental distress, and ₹10,000 for legal expenses. Additionally, the court imposed a ₹1 lakh penalty on PVR Cinemas and INOX.