--- title: Indian Court Orders Movie Theaters to Play National Anthem description: The Indian Supreme Court ordered movie theaters around the country to play the national anthem before every screening canonical: https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-30T16:13:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:03:28.303Z article:section: World og:title: Indian Movie Theaters Must Play the National Anthem Before Screenings og:description: The country's Supreme Court ordered it to encourage patriotism og:url: https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22faea49d42540b2/6988b02597cdff5ffc6aebd0/india-theater.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Movie theater in a city, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indian Movie Theaters Must Play the National Anthem Before Screenings twitter:description: The country's Supreme Court ordered it to encourage patriotism twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22faea49d42540b2/6988b02597cdff5ffc6aebd0/india-theater.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Indian Movie Theaters Must Play the National Anthem Before Screenings, Supreme Court Rules by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 30, 2016 4:13 PM CUT  Movie theater in a city, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. ( Movie theater in a city, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. (UniversalImagesGroup—UIG/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Nov 30, 2016 4:13 PM CUT The [Indian](http://time.com/4581221/kashmir-bus-death-pakistan-india/ "undefined") Supreme Court ordered movie theaters around the country to [play the national anthem](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/world/asia/india-cinemas-national-anthem.html "undefined") before every screening in an attempt to promote “a sense of committed patriotism and nationalism.” Cinemas, which have 10 days to comply, must display the flag on the screen while the song plays, and moviegoers must stand in respect, the New York _Times_ reports. The ruling comes after a petition from a man who said he was once the only person to stand in a movie theater while the national anthem played. “The people sitting at the back objected, and said, ‘Let us watch the movie,’” he said. “It hurt me very badly.” \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/world/asia/india-cinemas-national-anthem.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/"},"headline":"Indian Movie Theaters Must Play the National Anthem Before Screenings, Supreme Court Rules","datePublished":"2016-11-30T16:13:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:03:28.303Z","description":"Moviegoers must stand while it is played","url":"https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/","keywords":["India"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22faea49d42540b2/6988b02597cdff5ffc6aebd0/india-theater.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt22faea49d42540b2/6988b02597cdff5ffc6aebd0/india-theater.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Movie theater in a city, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India","caption":"Movie theater in a city, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India","creditText":"UniversalImagesGroup—UIG/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4586124/indian-supreme-court-national-anthem-movie-theaters/","name":"Indian Movie Theaters Must Play the National Anthem Before Screenings, Supreme Court Rules"}}]}] ```