Experts on Mana Sankara Vara Prasad Garu court order on negative ratings

Chiranjeevi's Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu became the first Indian film to get a court order preventing people to comeup with negative ratings online even before the release of the film on BookMyShow.

Only those with a valid ticket can post their review on BookMyShow. Following this, experts analysed the impact of this action. Director Hemanth Madhukar says "Telugu films have suffered due to unknown individuals from various locations posting extremely poor ratings and one-word negative comments. Internet robots or bots flood platforms with minuscule ratings on the first day, which can influence audience perception even before genuine reviews emerge,”

He pointed out “In some cases, people even upload videos from inside theatres and post alarming comments while the film is still running. These reviews and ratings often appear at the top, either unduly praising or unfairly downplaying a film immediately after release,”

Another producer highlighted “There are instances where films receive 1 or 1.5 ratings at the opening itself, directly impacting audience sentiment. Some of these accounts can be traced to foreign locations, including a few African countries, making them difficult to track. At the same time, some producers spend ₹2–5 lakh to artificially boost their films with short positive comments like ‘Wonderful’ or ‘Super’ and inflated ratings, which also distorts public opinion,”

Hemanth Madhukar adds “Fan wars have taken over social media. Fans compare collections, views on songs or teasers, and attack rival stars. Tracking and stopping such organised behaviour becomes extremely difficult,”

He concluded “Right now, such reviews have been stopped on BookMyShow. This legal shield should be extended to social media platforms as well. Only then can we truly stem this negativity business,”