Keralam’s multiplex pricing debate: SC order in 2023 permits cinema hall owners to fix food prices

Officials inspecting a food stall at a multiplex at a mall in Kochi on September 5. | Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin The prices of food items sold at multiplexes would continue to be set by traders with no scope for any governmental intervention in the price-fixing mechanism.A Supreme Court order had termed cinema halls as private properties of its owners, who were entitled to “stipulate terms and conditions so long as they are not contrary to public interest, safety and welfare.” The court also noted that the owners were entitled to “determine the business model to be followed and to regulate the terms on which such sale should take place” in the K.C. Cinema vs State of Jammu and Kashmir case in 2023.The issue of multiplexes charging “exorbitant prices” for snacks, including popcorn, had become a raging topic of discussion in Keralam with Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V. V. Rajesh flagging it. The officials of the Legal Metrology department in Keralam had held inspections in various movie halls and multiplexes across the State following the public resentment against the pricing.Joint inspections by officials from the Legal Metrology, Civil Supplies and Food Safety departments were recently carried out in a few malls across the State on an instruction from Anoop Jacob, Minister for Food and Supplies, following the complaints.At the multiplex in Kochi, a 90 g serving of regular salted popcorn costs ₹340, while the cheese and caramel variants are priced at ₹380 each. A 180 g serving of salted popcorn costs ₹420, and the cheese and caramel variants ₹460 each. A 240 g serving of salted popcorn is priced at ₹570.A 90 g serving of nachos starts at ₹340, while a 170 g burger costs ₹260. A 540 ml bottle of cold beverage is priced at ₹290, and a vegetable sandwich costs ₹240.“The MRP can be independently fixed by the manufacturers, and the law does not permit any governmental intervention in the process. We cannot insist on fixing the price of any products. All that the Legal Metrology Department (LMD) can do is to check whether the packaged products are sold at the MRP and the prescribed weight,” said Rajesh Sam, Controller, LMD.The department can also insist that non-packaged products are sold at the price and weight as displayed in the menu cards, he said. The Supreme Court, in a Bench comprising the then Chief Justice of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justice P.S. Narasimha, upheld the prohibition on carrying food and beverages from outside into the precincts of a movie hall, holding that it was not “contrary to public interest, safety or welfare.” The finding worked in favour of cinema hall owners, much to the chagrin of movie buffs.The court observed that a movie hall also “doubles up as an eatery when food and beverages are sold within its premises.” “Patrons of a movie hall cannot demand to bring their own food to eat there when a condition to the contrary is enforced by the cinema hall owners. This would be akin to permitting a customer who visits a restaurant to carry their own food to that restaurant and eat it within the premises of that restaurant,” the court held.The Bench also directed that hygienic drinking water be supplied free of cost within the precincts of the cinema hall. It further held that, in the case of an infant or young child, a reasonable quantity of food or beverages may be carried inside the hall. Published - September 10, 2026 10:39 am IST