NCDRC asks Yash Raj Films to pay compensation for excluding song from movie 'Fan'

One of India's topmost film production companies Yash Raj Films has been directed by the apex consumer forum, NCDRC, to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a teacher in Maharashtra's Aurangabad, who was disappointed by exclusion of a song from Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Fan'. Afreen Fatima Zaidi, a teacher by profession, was disappointed to see that the song did not feature in the movie despite being shown during promotion.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) held the exclusion of song 'Jabra Fan' as "unfair trade practice" and said the person who decides to watch the movie after seeing the song in promotion is bound to feel "deceived, disappointed and dejected". The commission noted that the obvious purpose behind such an unfair trade practice is to draw potential viewers to cinema hall by luring them with the song and thereby making gain at cost of the viewer.

"In fact, I fail to understand the logic behind including the song in the promo but excluding it while exhibiting the movie, unless the intention of the producer is to deceive the viewer by making him believe that the song would form part of the movie while knowing it very well that the said song would not be a part of the movie when it is exhibited in the cinema halls," NCDRC presiding member V K Jain said. The NCDRC rejected the contention of the YRF that the producer and the actor of the movie had publicly declared the song which forms part of the promo would not be a part of the movie.

The commission called it insufficient since it was not necessary that a person who watched the promo would have also seen the said interview. "When the producer of a movie shows the promos of the said movie on TV channels, etc. and such promos include a song, any person watching the promo would be justified in believing that the movie would contain the song shown in the said promos, unless the promo itself contains a disclaimer that the song will not be a part of the movie," the commission said.

Rejecting the YRF's claims that the woman cannot be called a consumer, the commission said she paid the price for the movie tickets, which is shared among the exhibitor, distributor and producer of the movie. Zaidi had seen the promos of the movie, 'Fan', which included the song 'Jabra Fan' and decided to watch the film with her family members.

She had approached the district forum which had rejected her petition. She later moved the Maharashtra State Consumer Commission, which directed the YRF in 2017 to compensate her with Rs 10,000 along with litigation cost of Rs 5,000.

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