Review at your own peril

In early October, ‘review bombing’, a concept of relatively recent origin in the video gaming industry, entered public conversations in Kerala. Mubeen Rauf, director of the Malayalam film Aaromalinte Adhyathe Pranayam, approached the Kerala High Court seeking a gag on social media and YouTube reviews for at least seven days following a film’s release, claiming that they pose a threat to the industry’s financial stability. The High Court, which sought to make a distinction between objective, professional reviews and subjective, personal opinions on movies, also touched upon ‘review bombing’, the practice of a large number of people, or a few people with multiple accounts, posting negative reviews with the intention of harming the box office performance of a film. Last week, the Kerala Police booked seven online movie reviewers and social media platforms following a petition by Ubaini E., director of the film Rahel Makan Kora. Most of these films, especially the much-hyped big budget ones, which failed at the box office have evoked negative reactions from a wider audience on social media following their release on OTT platforms.