Film reviewers booked in Kerala after director claims they ‘tarnished’ his movie

Those arraigned as the accused include the owner of film promotion firm Hains, social media reviewers Arun Tharanga, Aswanth Kok, Facebook account user anoopanu6165, social media handle soulmates55 and platforms YouTube and Facebook.

The case was registered by police at a time when the director of the film Aromalinte Aadyathe Pranayam, Mubeen Rauf, had moved the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to ensure social media influencers and film reviewing vloggers refrain from publishing reviews of his movie on social media for at least seven days from the date of its release.

Early this month, a bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran had appointed Shyam Padman as Amicus Curiae, who had reported to the court that there is sufficient material to establish that there are such vested interests, some of whom even think that they can “make or break movies”. Padman told the court there was a term to describe these activities – review bombing.

The court has sought directions from the state police chief while observing that there ought to be measure in place where directors, producers or other persons associated with films can make complaints in order to trigger a proper investigation under the Penal Law and laws relating to cyber crimes.

The state police chief on Wednesday informed the court that protocols are being put in place to prevent “motivated, malicious, negative reviews” and “review bombings”. The Court further asked whether standards put in place by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) could be applied to curb fake reviews.

“The protocols in this regard will have to be very carefully thought of, to ensure that honest and bona fide ‘Reviews’ are distinguished, from motivated and malafide ones, “ the court observed, posting the matter to be considered after two weeks.