BookMyShow Disables Audience Ratings for Films Amid Growing Controversy
The online ticketing platform BookMyShow has made a significant move by disabling audience ratings and reviews for certain films. This decision has reignited a heated debate within the Indian film industry about the misuse of digital platforms to manipulate public perception.
Legal Interventions Lead to Rating Freezes
Several Kannada films including The Devil, Mark, and 45 have seen their audience reviews temporarily switched off following court orders. The latest addition to this list is the Telugu film Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu, starring Chiranjeevi and Nayanthara, which also had its ratings disabled.
Meanwhile, Sivakarthikeyan's Tamil release Parasakthi has faced a wave of online negativity since its theatrical release on January 10. The film's team has alleged organized attempts to sabotage its performance through malicious reviews.
Industry Veterans Support the Move
TG Thyagarajan, founder of Sathya Jyothi Films and President of the Tamil Film Active Producers Association, strongly supports the decision to disable ratings in specific cases. He told Bangalore Times that the digital landscape has transformed film criticism into something far more personal and damaging.
"Reviews have become highly personal, often shifting from critiquing films to attacking individuals," Thyagarajan explained. "Many negative reviews now appear deliberate, seemingly aimed at damaging a film rather than assessing it fairly."
Drawing from his decades of experience producing films like Moondram Pirai in the 1980s, Thyagarajan noted that criticism was once centered on cinema itself. Today, he observes fan groups attacking each other in ways that seriously affect the industry.
Allegations of Organized Sabotage
Actor and creative producer Dev Ramnath, associated with Parasakthi, took to social media platform X to allege coordinated attempts to sabotage the film. In a strongly worded post, he accused rival interests of manipulating online sentiment through various tactics.
Dev listed several concerning activities including negative reviews, circulation of old videos, audience manipulation, political slogans inside theaters, and tampering with BookMyShow ratings. "Just because we're releasing alongside your film doesn't give you the right to sabotage ours online," he wrote, warning that such practices damage the entire industry.
Legal Process for Disabling Reviews
According to advocate Indushri S Rao, the procedure to disable reviews is fairly straightforward. Filmmakers must approach a civil court by filing an injunction suit seeking a stay or restraining order.
"The lawyer then argues the matter expressing the gravity and urgency while placing supporting material before the court," Rao explains. "Since the film may not even have released at that point, the evidence is usually drawn from past experience."
This evidence can include clear patterns seen in earlier films or instances where the same users repeatedly post negative comments about multiple movies. When courts identify attempts to tarnish a film's image through organized or malicious reviews, they may grant temporary orders blocking audience reviews altogether.
Mixed Reactions from Industry Figures
Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda reacted to the disabling of audience ratings for Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu with mixed emotions. He described the situation as "happy and sad to see this" - happy about the court's intervention but sad about the reality of industry insiders causing these problems.
Vijay questioned what happened to principles like "live and let live" and "growing together." Recalling his experiences since Dear Comrade, he said he witnessed "shocking politics of organized attacks" but felt his voice fell on deaf ears for years.
While acknowledging that the court order won't solve the problem entirely, Vijay welcomed the intervention, saying he was glad the issue was now "out in the open" and that threats to films were being recognized. He noted this would become "one less thing to worry about" for filmmakers facing online sabotage.
The ongoing controversy highlights the growing tension between free expression and organized manipulation in India's digital film landscape. As platforms like BookMyShow implement rating freezes, the industry continues to grapple with how to protect films from malicious campaigns while preserving genuine audience feedback.
