The Supreme Court recently allowed an appeal filed by Yash Raj Films (YRF) against an order of the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which imposed a penalty on the production company for not including a song in the 2016 Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan, which was shown in the promos and the teasers of the movie.
A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Aravind Kumar delivered the verdict. While verbally pronouncing the verdict, Justice Narasimha said that the bench has answered the questions whether a promo or a teaser which is circulated before the release of a movie would create a contractual obligation and whether it was an unfair trade practice not to show the contents of the promotional trailer in the movie.
The apex court’s ruling came while deciding an appeal preferred by Yash Raj Films Pvt Ltd. (YRF), challenging a decision by the NCDRC that affirmed the State Commission’s 2017 directive to pay Rs 10,000 in compensation to the complainant Afreen Fatima Zaidi, as well as litigation expenses amounting to Rs 5,000. Nonetheless, the court in 2021 stayed the operation of the NCDRC’s order but kept other issues to be left open.
Notably, Afreen Fatima Zaidi had filed a consumer complaint against the appellants/Yash Raj Films complaining that she was cheated on account of the song Jabra Fan, which was shown in the promos and trailers of the film Fan, not being shown in the film. The complainant mentioned that her children refrained from eating on the evening they went to watch the movie because they were disheartened by the absence of the song in the film, resulting in an increase in their acidity levels and subsequent hospitalization.
Meanwhile, the appellant YRF submitted that the NCDRC’s order infringes upon its fundamental rights as per Article 19 (1) (g), as it imposes unjust conditions on how it conducts its professional activities.