SC sets aside NCDRC order for penalty on YRF for excluding promo song 'Jabra Fan'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which had directed the production house Yash Raj Films to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a consumer who was aggrieved by the exclusion of the song 'Jabra Fan', from film 'Fan' starring actor Shah Rukh Khan.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar while delivering the verdict said that it has answered the questions of 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 detailed judgment will be uploaded on the apex court website later.
YRF had approached the apex court challenging a 2021 NCDRC order passed on a complaint by one Afreen Fatima Zaidi, who was aggrieved by the exclusion of the song from the film when it was played in movie theatres.
Zaidi had complained that she was cheated as the song 'Jabra Fan', which was shown in the promos and trailers of the 2016 film 'Fan', was not played in the movie theatre.
The counsel of Yash Raj Films (YRF) had contended before the apex court that the song 'Fan' was meant only for promotional purposes and the production house was under no obligation to include it in the movie.
YRF had said it was not a service provider and that the complainant had availed the 'services' of the cinema hall and not that of the production house and the business arrangement between the producer, distributor, and exhibitor of the movie has no relevance here.
The complainant had claimed that her children did not eat food on the night when they went to watch the film in the theater because they were disappointed as the song was not played at the theatre, which led to a spike in their acidity levels and hospitalization.
YRF had stated that the mere non-inclusion of the song 'Jabra Fan' has not caused any loss to the complainant and that the claims are exaggerated.
In the year 2017, while the District Consumer Forum had rejected the complainant's claim, the State Commission of Maharashtra allowed her appeal and ordered the production house to compensate her with Rs 10,000 along with a litigation cost of Rs 5,000. The NCDRC had also passed the order in favor of the complainant.