BENGALURU: You may have planned your weekend movie outing after looking up online reviews. Hereafter, you may also have to watch for ‘reviews’ that can push ratings up or down. For a price of course. Something like match-fixing in cricket!
Sandalwood producers and directors are pointing fingers at the popular ticket-booking platform BookMyShow for biased reviews and ratings, and allege that high ratings are given only when paid well. But what is being revealed now is that some unscrupulous elements may have managed to use the platform’s name and make some quick money by promising to increase the star ratings for movies.
The platform said they are aware of this and added that some individuals have attempted to compromise the process by indulging in malpractice. The matter has been brought to the attention of the authorities concerned who have initiated legal action too, a spokesperson added.
A producer of a recent Kannada movie was baffled when he received messages claiming to increase the movie’s ratings on BookMyShow if he opted for packages ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 60,000. “I first got a message from someone named Sneha Mathew on Facebook. She told me she is not directly working with BMS, but is part of a separate team and can increase the ratings on the ticketing platform,” said the producer. She later reportedly collected his contact number and sent details of the ‘packages’ on WhatsApp.
“A man contacted me and gave me a list of procedures they follow right after the first show. This included 1,000 positive votes, five positive reviews within three days of the movie’s release, maintaining positive reviews and assured good ratings. This package would cost Rs 30,000,” explained another producer.
Will take action against culprits: Ticketing platform
According to some of the movie makers, those involved in the fudging could be either employees of the platform or former employees who still have access to the platform’s working. Citing an example, a renowned filmmaker said, “I got a list of movies for which the woman claimed to have fudged the reviews. She has sent me screenshots of a movie rating which was 29% in the morning and had increased to 83% later in the day”.
Others claim that it cannot happen without the knowledge of the ticketing platform. “Of late, many people watch movies only based on online reviews. This forces us to fall into such traps. We will have to either pay and ensure ratings go up or end up not having crowds for our movies. BMS has to do something about this if they are not involved,” said a director from Gandhinagar, Bengaluru. “BookMyShow’s Reviews & Ratings system is an absolutely democratic process of garnering audience and critics’ feedback in an effort to provide cine-goers with the best experience around watching their favourite films.
Unfortunately, some individuals have attempted to compromise this bona fide experience for users by indulging in malpractices, such as falsely charging producers for allegedly being able to rig reviews and ratings as also votes for their movies on the platform.
“This matter has been brought to the attention of the highest authorities and Book- MyShow has initiated legal action against the said individuals to safeguard the interests of millions of consumers and partners such as production houses and cinemas. To further strengthen and secure the platform, we continue to build a more robust solution backed by artificial intelligence to enable a verified, authentic and user-friendly review system for movies,” a BMS spokesperson told The New Indian Express.