Terms of Service

1. Agreement

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and TheReviewMonk, operator of thereviewmonk.com (the “Service”). By using the Service or creating an account, you agree to these Terms, our Privacy Policy and Content & Takedown Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Who may use the Service

You must be 18 or older to create an account or submit content. By using the Service you confirm you meet this requirement and that the information you give us is accurate.

3. The Service

TheReviewMonk aggregates film critics' reviews and ratings for Indian and Indian-released cinema, computes summary scores, and provides editorial and discovery features. Aggregated scores and summaries are our editorial interpretation of available data and are provided for general information only; we don't guarantee they are complete, current, or error-free.

4. Your account

You're responsible for activity under your account and for keeping access to your sign-in email secure. We use passwordless (magic link) and Google sign-in. Tell us promptly at thereviewmonk@gmail.com if you suspect unauthorised use. Returning users from before our relaunch must re-verify and accept these Terms before using account features. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

5. User content

“User Content” means anything you submit — ratings, written reviews, lists, watchlists, display names, and similar.

You keep ownership of your User Content. By submitting it, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence to host, store, display, reproduce, adapt (for formatting/excerpting), and distribute that content in connection with operating and promoting the Service. This licence continues for content you've made public even after you delete your account, to the extent it has been aggregated or anonymised; we'll remove personally attributed public content on request where reasonably possible.

You represent that your User Content is your own, is accurate to the best of your knowledge, and does not infringe anyone's rights or break the law.

6. Rules for User Content and conduct

You agree not to submit content or use the Service in ways that:

• are unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, or threatening;
• infringe intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights;
• are spam, fake, paid-for, bot-generated, or part of coordinated rating/review manipulation (“review-bombing”) or vote brigading;
• impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation;
• contain malware, or attempt to scrape, overload, reverse-engineer, or gain unauthorised access to the Service.

We may moderate, edit for formatting, refuse, label, hold, or remove any User Content, and may exclude ratings from accounts we reasonably suspect are inauthentic or abusive from public aggregates. We are not responsible for User Content submitted by others.

7. Intermediary status and grievances

To the extent the Service hosts User Content, we act as an intermediary. We maintain a grievance mechanism and content-removal process described in our Content & Takedown Policy, including the name and contact of our Grievance Officer. Nothing in these Terms makes us the author of User Content created by others.

8. Intellectual property

The TheReviewMonk name, monk logo, site design, aggregated scores, the “Monk Verdict,” consensus summaries, and other original materials are owned by us or our licensors. Don't copy or reuse them except as allowed by these Terms or applicable law.

The Service displays short, attributed excerpts of critics' reviews together with a link to the original source, as an index and aggregation tool. We do not claim ownership of those reviews; copyright remains with the critics and publications.

Film metadata, images, and availability data are provided by third parties including TMDB and JustWatch; their marks and content belong to them. Film titles, posters, and stills are property of their respective owners and are used for identification and commentary.

This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

9. Copyright and other complaints

We respond to valid copyright and content complaints. For the procedure, including DMCA contact information for US rights holders, see our Content & Takedown Policy. We may remove content and terminate repeat infringers.

9A. AI-generated summaries

Some content — including per-film “consensus” summaries — is generated with the assistance of AI by synthesising published critic reviews. We label such content as AI-generated. These summaries are our editorial output, not the words or views of any individual critic, and may contain errors. They are generated from critics' reviews only. If you believe a summary is inaccurate or misrepresents you or your work, see our Content & Takedown Policy.

10. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied. Aggregated scores, verdicts, summaries, and “where to watch” information may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, and are not professional, financial, or other advice.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, TheReviewMonk and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, or for loss of data, goodwill, or profits. Our total aggregate liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed INR 1,000.

12. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims arising out of your User Content, your use of the Service, or your breach of these Terms.

13. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of India, and you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, except where applicable consumer-protection law gives you other rights.

14. Changes and termination

We may update these Terms and will post the new version with an updated date. For material changes, we will ask you to re-accept before your next write action. We may suspend or discontinue the Service or your access at any time as permitted by law.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms: thereviewmonk@gmail.com.