The curious case of BookMyShow User Ratings: Shivaay and ADHM

Now that the hype around the Diwali clash is coming to an end, it's time to write about something that we have been following closely over the last 4 days. The user ratings' on the popular ticket booking website BookMyShow.com' is loaded heavily in favour of Ajay Devgn's Shivaay.

Out of 56,467 votes received for Shivaay - 61% of the total voters rated it 5 stars. On the other hand, we have the other release this weekend, which is performing very well at multiplexes. But for some reason, the ratings are abnormally negative - even when compared to some of the biggest box office disasters of the year.

ADHM has received 52,865 votes - out of which a whopping 42% ratings are for 1 star.

This raises a couple of questions:

• Can BookMyShow ratings be hacked or manipulated? While ratings on IMDb and other websites make little or no difference to ticket sales, BookMyShow ratings can impact business of films because people see the ratings before booking tickets. Nowadays, most people also trust user ratings' more than critic ratings'.
• If BookMyShow ratings can be hacked into, and a production house or fanbase can create multiple accounts or use bots to negatively vote for a competing film, it could be used in the future too as Bollywood enters an era of box office clashes.

Check out the screenshot of the ratings of the two films and tell us what you think in the comments section below:

ADHM Shivaay BMS Ratings

The ratings of 2015's most acclaimed blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan' certainly looks more genuine to us.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan BMS Rating