Multiplex chain ordered to pay INR 75K after 22-minute movie delay over ads

A late-night movie screening in Hyderabad went wrong when a screening of the Dhanush and Nagarjuna film, Kubera, started 22 minutes late on June 20, 2025. The Hyderabad lawyer booked two tickets for the said film on that day. The movie, which was supposed to be shown at 10:35 pm, started at around 10:52 pm.

Why was the multiplex chain ordered to pay ₹75,000?

By about 10:30 p.m., the advocate and his friend had arrived at the theatre. It was expected that the film would start at the stipulated time. However, the ads went on until after 10:35 p.m. As per the complaint, however, the problem did not affect only the theatre. The advocate alleged that he could only reach his home at 3 am and not by the usual 2 am due to this delayed performance.

In the first instance, the advocate raised the matter of extended commercial advertisements being a shortcoming of services and being a practice of unfair trade. This was based on the fact that, according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with regard to public service awareness films, these films are not allowed to exceed two minutes.

In response to the ban on advertisements being played before movie time, the multiplex justified the screening of advertisements, trailers, commercial advertisements, and public service awareness films. In its defence, the company claimed that the screening was part of the business activity. Moreover, public service films dealt with issues such as education, agriculture, the welfare of women, and hygiene, among others.

The decision was made by the Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, which dismissed the defence raised. It held that screening of commercials through the said method is not within the prescribed framework but is a case of unfair trade practices.

According to the order, the movie theatre was asked to pay ₹20,000 as compensation and ₹5,000 as costs for the litigation case. Additionally, ₹50,000 was asked to be paid to the District Consumer Welfare Fund as punitive damages. The amount of financial liability therefore came to ₹75,000, but only ₹25,000 was paid directly to the complainant. The theatre was also instructed to stop such a practice from happening again.

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