The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a February 2020 order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which directed Yash Raj Films (YRF) to pay Rs. 15,000 compensation to a consumer aggrieved by exclusion of the song Jabra Fan in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan, which released on April 15, 2016. However, the court did question the production house over why it marketed the film with the song, but edited it out of the final movie.

Afreen Fatima Zaidi, a teacher from Aurangabad, on watching the film’s promos – which included the song Jabra Fan – decided to see the film in cinema with her family members. However, the song was missing from the film, which made her feel ‘cheated and deceived’. Zaidi approached the concerned District Forum 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 NCDRC had held that inclusion of a song in the promo of the movie when it is not actually a part of the movie, amounted to deceiving viewers and was consequently an unfair trade practice, under Section 2(1)(r) of the Consumer Protection Act. It specified the need for a disclaimer in such cases, stating that “if a person likes the song shown in the promo, and based upon such liking decides to visit a cinema hall for watching the said movie for a consideration, he is bound to feel deceived, disappointed and dejected if the song shown in the promo is not found in the film.”

It added, “The obvious purpose behind such an unfair trade practice is to draw the potential viewers to the cinema hall by luring them with the song which forms part of the promo and thereby making gain at the cost of the viewer.”

Vivek Narayan Sharma, a Supreme Court advocate, says, “A film is a product. A promise was shown in a glimpse in the promo. If the consumer was mesmerised by a glimpse of that promise, and when the consumer sees it missing from the product then they can claim compensation. From a legal perspective, it was a legitimate expectation by a moviegoer to see the song in the film. It can be argued in the court by the consumer that their legitimate expectations were not fulfiled, hence, it caused them mental agony and they have incurred losses — movie tickets, time spent in the cinema hall and money spent in hiring a vehicle and so on.”

YRF argued,“The song Jabra Fan was only meant for the promotion of the movie and the same was not to be a part of the movie and this fact was also well publicised by the Petitioner, the star-cast of the movie as well as by the director on multiple occasions.”

YRF also added that it is a common industry practice to release certain songs for promotional purposes and not include them in the movie. It submitted, “What scenes/songs/portions that the producer and the director finally choose to retain as part of the film, after editing, and what they finally present to the public, is their prerogative. Members of public cannot demand the story to be presented in a specific manner, suitable to their sensibilities.”