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The Supreme Court on Monday held in a judgment that a film trailer is not a promise or an agreement enforceable by law. A producer cannot be held liable for unfair trade practice if the contents of the promo do not feature in the actual movie.
“A song, dialogue, or a short visual in a promotional trailer may be seen in the context of the multifarious uses of advertisements. These could be used to popularise or to create a buzz about the release of the film, rather than to purely represent information about the contents of the film,” a Bench headed by Justice P.S. Narasimha observed.
The judgment set aside an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 2017, directing Yash Raj Films to pay ₹10,000 as compensation besides litigation costs to a schoolteacher, Afreen Fatima Zaidi, aggrieved by the exclusion of a song in Bollywood movie Fan.
Allowing the appeal filed by the film production firm, a Bench of Justices Narasimha and Aravind Kumar said there was no “deficiency” in service and the complainant wrongly assumed that a promotional trailer is an offer or a promise.
The top court’s verdict came while hearing an appeal filed by Yash Raj Films Pvt Ltd challenging an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which upheld the State Commission’s 2017 direction to pay a compensation of ₹10,000 to Afreen Fatima Zaidi and a litigation cost of ₹5,000.
“A promotional trailer is unilateral. It is only meant to encourage a viewer to purchase the ticket to the movie, which is an independent transaction and contract from the promotional trailer. A promotional trailer by itself is not an offer and neither intends to nor can create a contractual relationship,” Justice Narasimha wrote.
