The Supreme Court on April 22 allowed an appeal filed by Yash Raj Films against an order of the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which directed the production firm to pay ₹10,000 along with litigation costs as compensation to a consumer being aggrieved by exclusion of a song in Bollywood movie "Fan".
A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Aravind Kumar set aside the NCDRC order.
"We have allowed the appeal," the Bench said.
The Supreme Court’s order came while hearing an appeal filed by Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd. challenging an order of NCDRC, which upheld the State Commission’s 2017 direction to pay compensation at ₹10,000 to the complainant Afreen Fatima Zaidi along with a litigation cost of ₹5,000.
The complainant on watching the promos of the film starring Shah Rukh Khan decided to watch it with her family members. The promo, which Ms. Zaidi and her children had seen before going to the cinema hall to watch the movie, included a song "Jabra Fan" but when she watched the movie, the song was missing, she had alleged in the complaint.
Feeling cheated and deceived, the complainant approached the district forum concerned by way of a consumer complaint seeking compensation along with a direction to the petitioners to air the promos and song with a caveat that the said song was not included in the film.
The complaint was dismissed by the district forum, after which she approached the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Maharashtra, which was opposed the production house.
The production house submitted that the complainant cannot be said to be a consumer and stated that the song "Jabra Fan" was shown on TV channels as a promotional trailer of the film and it had been disclosed to the public at large by way of press interviews that the said song will not be a part of the movie.
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