Hyderabad Cineplex fined Rs 75,000 for delaying movie with 22 minutes of ads
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Hyderabad Cineplex fined Rs 75,000 for delaying movie with 22 minutes of ads")
Representative image. Photograph: (Magnific)
The 33-year-old man claimed he and his friend were seated around 10:30 pm, and advertisements and trailers continued to play until roughly 10:52 pm.
A Hyderabad consumer commission has fined a cineplex Rs 75,000 after discovering that the theatre's commercial advertisements and promotional content delayed the start of a movie by around 22 minutes. The case goes back to June 20, 2025, when a man purchased tickets for Kuberaa, the film starring Dhanush and Nagarjuna. The 33-year-old man claimed that he had booked two tickets for the 10:35 pm show, and he and his friend were seated around 10:30 pm. According to the complaint, however, advertisements and trailers continued to play until roughly 10:52 pm.
He told the commission that the delay disrupted his plans and left him reaching home at 3 am, around an hour later than he had expected. He argued that this amounted to a deficiency in service. More than a year later, on September 11, 2026, the Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission issued its final order, siding with the complainant and ruling the theatre's conduct an unfair trade practice, according to a report in the Indian Express.
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Theatres' commercial benefit
The commission cited government guidelines on screening public service awareness films, which cap such approved films at two minutes. Even so, the commission's finding was not a blanket ruling that cinemas cannot show advertisements before a film. The theatre was found responsible for delaying the film due to commercial advertisements and promotional content, on which the court said that the ads were screened for commercial benefit.
At the hearing, the theatre company contended that advertisements, public service announcements and trailers were a normal part of its business, and that public service content served a broader public interest. The Commission, however, was not persuaded by this argument given the facts of the case.
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