Online ratings under fire

The decision to disable audience ratings and reviews for select films on the online ticketing platform BookMyShow has reignited a long-simmering debate within the film industry over the misuse of digital platforms to shape public perception. Kannada films such as The Devil, Mark, and 45 have seen au dience reviews temporarily switched off following legal interventions. Now, Telugu film Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu, starring Chiranjeevi and Nayanthara, also had its audience ratings disabled. Adding to the controversy is the wave of online negativity surrounding Sivakarthikeyan’s latest Tamil release, Parasakthi, since it hit theatres on January 10.‘Criticism is fair, personal attacks are not’ The issue has drawn support from sections of the producer community. TG Thyagarajan, founder of Sathya Jyothi Films, President of the Tamil Film Active Producers Association (TFAPA), and producer of the recent Kannada film Mark, strongly backed the decision to disable ratings in certain cases. “I strongly support this order and believe it is a good move,” he told Bangalore Times. “The media landscape today, especially in the digital era, is very different. Reviews have become highly personal, often shifting from critiquing films to attacking individuals. Many negative reviews now appear deliberate, seemingly aimed at damaging a film rather than assessing it fairly.” Drawing from decades of experience, he added that earlier criticism was largely centred on cinema itself. “When I produced films like Moondram Pirai in the 80s, reviews—whether positive or negative—were about the film. Today, criticism has turned personal. Fan groups attack each other, and this is seriously affecting the industry.” Referring specifically to the current controversy, Thyagarajan noted, “In the digital space now, attacks are far more aggressive. We see this even today— for instance, with Sivakarthikeyan’s film Parasakthi, where fans of another actor have been targeting him online. It’s very sad.” Having witnessed multiple eras of Tamil cinema, he said such behaviour was unprecedented. “I’ve been in the industry since the days of Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, and it was never this personal. Criticism of a film is fair, but personal attacks are not. They hurt artists and eventually affect the film as well.” Parasakthi team alleges organised sabotage Actor and creative producer Dev Ramnath, associated with Parasakthi, took to X to allege a coordinated attempt to sabotage the film ahead of its release. In a strongly worded post, he accused rival interests of manipulating online sentiment through negative reviews, circulating old videos, influencing audiences, raising political slogans inside theatres, and ‘messing with BookMyShow ratings’. “Just because we’re releasing alongside your film doesn’t give you the right to sabotage ours online,” Dev wrote. Calling these tactics “not competition”, Dev warned that such practices damage the industry as a whole.How filmmakers can legally get audience reviews blockedAccording to Indushri S Rao, advocate, the procedure to disable reviews is fairly straightforward. “Filmmakers have to approach a civil court by filing an injunction suit seeking a stay or a restraining order. The lawyer then argues the matter expressing the gravity and urgency while placing supporting material before the court. Since the f ilm may not even have released at that point, the evidence is usually drawn from past experience—such as clear patterns seen in earlier films, or instances where the same users are found repeatedly posting negative comments about multiple movies,” she explains. There are high probabilities and identifiable attempts to tarnish its image through organised or malicious reviews. “In such cases, the court may be requested to grant an order which will temporarily block audience reviews altogether. For this, an injunction suit has to be filed,” she adds.Happy and sad: Vijay Deverakonda welcomes court order on ratings freeze Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda reacted to the disabling of audience ratings for Mana Shan kara Vara Prasad Garu with a mix of relief and disappointment, calling it “happy and sad to see this”. “Happy to know..and sad because of the reality of our own people causing these problems,” he wrote, questioning what had happened to “live and let live” and “growing together”. Recalling his own experiences, Vijay said that since the days of Dear Comrade, he had begun to witness the “shocking politics of organised attacks”, adding that his voice “fell on deaf ears” for years as he was re peatedly told that “nobody can stop a good film”. Welcoming the court’s intervention, he said he was glad the issue was now “out in the open” and that the threat to films was being recognised. While acknowledging that the or der would not solve the problem entirely, he said it would become “one less thing to worry about.”