Central Board of Film Certification

This article is about the Indian film classification board. For the Pakistani counterpart, seeCentral Board of Film Censors.For other uses, seeCBFC.

Central Board of Film Certification

Formation	15 January 1951(1951-01-15)
Type	Film Certification Statutory body
Purpose	Film certification
Headquarters	Mumbai,Maharashtra
Region served	India
Chairman	Prasoon Joshi
Chief Executive Officer	Smita Vats Sharma
Parent organisation	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Website	cbfcindia.gov.in
Formerly called	Central Board of Film Censors (1952–1983)

TheCentral Board of Film Certification(CBFC) orCensor Board of Film Certificationis a statutoryfilm-certificationbody in theMinistry of Information and Broadcastingof theGovernment of India.It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952."The Cinematograph Act 1952 outlines a strict certification process for commercial films shown in public venues. Films screened in cinemas and on television may only be publicly exhibited in India after certification by the board and edited.

Certificates and guidelines

Film-certificate categories

The board currently issues four certificates. Originally, there were two: U (unrestricted public exhibition withfamily-friendlymovies) and A (restricted to adult audiences but any kind ofnuditynot allowed). Two more were added in June 1983 that are U/A (unrestricted public exhibition, with parental guidance for children under 12) and S (restricted to specialised audiences, such asdoctorsorscientists).The board may refuse to certify a film.Additionally, V/U, V/UA, V/A are used for video films with U, U/A and A carrying the same meaning as above.

U certificate

Films with the U certification are fit for unrestricted public exhibition and arefamily-friendly.These films can contain universal themes likeeducation,family,drama,romance, sci-fi, action etc. These films can also contain some mild violence, but it cannot be prolonged. It may also contain very mild sexual scenes (without any traces of nudity or sexual detail).

U/A certificate

Films with the U/A certification can contain moderate adult themes that are not strong in nature and are not considered appropriate to be watched by a child without parental guidance. These films may contain moderate to strong violence, moderate sexual scenes (traces of nudity and moderate sexual detail can be found), frightening scenes, blood flow, or muted abusive language. Sometimes such films are re-certified with V/U for video viewing. The age threshold was previously set at 12 years of age, but in 2023 this was further refined to 7, 13 and 16 years of age.

• UA 7+– Unrestricted public exhibition, but with parental guidance for children below the age of 7 years.
• UA 13+– Unrestricted public exhibition, but with parental guidance for children below the age of 13 years.
• UA 16+– Unrestricted public exhibition, but with parental guidance for children below the age of 16 years.

A certificate

Films with the A certification are available for public exhibition, but with restriction toadults (aged 18+).These films can contain strong violence, explicit and strong sexual scenes, abusive language, but words which insult or degradewomenor anysocial group(despite being very common in many films) andnudityare not allowed. Somecontroversialand adult themes are considered unsuitable for young viewers. Such films are often re-certified with V/U and V/UA forTV,which does not happen in the case of U and U/A certified movies.

S certificate

Films with S certification cannot be viewed by the public. Only people associated with it (doctors,scientists,etc.), are permitted to view these films.

History

The Indian Cinematograph Act came into effect in 1920, seven years after the production of India's first film:Dadasaheb Phalke'sRaja Harishchandra.Censorship boards were originally independent bodies under the police chiefs of the cities of Madras (nowChennai), Bombay (nowMumbai), Calcutta (nowKolkata),Lahore(now inPakistan), and Rangoon (nowYangoninMyanmar) it was amended again on 1 August 2023 with the introduction of cinematography amendment bill. The bill awaits presidential assent.

After the 1947independence of India,autonomous regional censors were absorbed into theBombay Board of Film Censors.The Cinematograph Act of 1952 reorganised the Bombay board into theCentral Board of Film Censors.With the 1983 revision ofcinematographyrules, the body was renamed the Central Board of Film Certification.

In 2021 the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) was scrapped by the Indian government.

Principles

The board's guiding principles are to ensure healthy public entertainment and education and, using modern technology, to make the certification process and board activities transparent to filmmakers, the media and the public also every video have to undergo CBFC certification for telecasting or distributing over any platform in India and suggestible same standards for anywhere in the world.

Refusal to certify

In addition to the certifications above, there is also the possibility of the board refusing to certify the film at all.

The board's guidelines are:

• Anti-social activities (such as violence) may not be glorified.
• Criminal acts may not be depicted.
• The following is prohibited:
  • a) Involvement of children in violent acts or abuse.
  • b) Abuse or ridicule of the physically or mentally handicapped.
  • c) Unnecessary depictions of cruelty to animals.
• Gratuitous violence, cruelty, or horror.
• No scenes encouraging alcohol consumption, drug addiction or smoking.
• No vulgarity, obscenity, depravity or double entendres.
• No scenes degrading women (despite many sexist movies being certified), including sexual violence (as much as possible).
• No denigration by race, religion or other social group.
• No promotion of sectarian, obscurantist, anti-scientific and anti-national attitudes.
• Relations with foreign countries should not be affected.
• No national symbols or emblems, except in accordance with the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (12 of 1950).

Enforcement

Since 2004, censorship has been rigorously enforced. An incident was reported in which exhibitor staff – a clerk who sold the ticket, the usher who allowed minors to sit, a theatre manager and the partners of the theatre complex – were arrested for non-compliance with certification rules.

Composition and leadership

The board consists of a chairperson and 23 members, all of whom are appointed by the central government.Prasoon Joshichairs the board; Joshi became its 28th chairperson on 11 August 2017, afterPahlaj Nihalaniwas fired.Nihalani had succeededLeela Samsonafter Samson quitin protest of an appellate tribunal's overturning of a board decision to refuse certification forMSG: The Messenger.Samson had succeededSharmila Tagore.

The board, headquartered in Mumbai, has nine regional offices:

• Bangalore
• Chennai
• Cuttack
• Guwahati
• Hyderabad
• Kolkata
• Mumbai
• New Delhi
• Thiruvananthapuram

Chairs

No.	Name	From	To
1	C S Aggarwal	15 January 1951	14 June 1954
2	B D Mirchandani	15 June 1954	9 June 1955
3	M D Bhatt	10 June 1955	21 November 1959
4	D L Kothari	22 November 1959	24 March 1960
5	B D Mirchandani	25 March 1960	1 November 1960
6	D L Kothari	2 November 1960	22 April 1965
7	B P Bhatt	23 April 1965	22 April 1968
8	R P Nayak	31 April 1968	15 November 1969
9	M V Desai	12 December 1969	19 October 1970
10	Brig. R. Sreenivasan	20 October 1970	15 November 1971
11	Virendra Vyas	11 February 1972	30 June 1976
12	K L Khandpur	1 July 1976	31 January 1981
13	Hrishikesh Mukherjee	1 February 1981	10 August 1982
14	Aparna Mohile	11 August 1982	14 March 1983
15	Sharad Upasani	15 March 1983	9 May 1983
16	Surresh Mathur	10 May 1983	7 July 1983
17	Vikram Singh	8 July 1983	19 February 1989
18	Moreshwar Vanmali	20 February 1989	25 April 1990
19	B P Singhal	25 April 1990	1 April 1991
20	Shakti Samanta	1 April 1991	25 June 1998
21	Asha Parekh	25 June 1998	25 September 2001
22	Vijay Anand	26 September 2001	19 July 2002
23	Arvind Trivedi	20 July 2002	16 October 2003
24	Anupam Kher	16 October 2003	13 October 2004
25	Sharmila Tagore	13 October 2004	31 March 2011
26	Leela Samson	1 April 2011	16 January 2015
27	Pahlaj Nihalani	19 January 2015	11 August 2017
28	Prasoon Joshi	12 August 2017	Present

Controversies

The board has been associated with a number of scandals. Film producers reportedly bribe the CBFC to obtain a U/A certificate, which entitles them to a 30-percent reduction in entertainment tax.

In 2002,War and Peace(adocumentary filmbyAnand Patwardhanwhich depictednuclear weapons testingand theSeptember 11 attacks) had to be edited 21 times before the film was approved for release. According to Patwardhan, "The cuts that [the Board] asked for are so ridiculous that they won't hold up in court. But if these cuts do make it, it will be the end of freedom of expression in the Indian media."A court ruled that the cut requirement was unconstitutional, and the film was shown uncensored.

Also in 2002, Indian filmmaker and CBFC chairVijay Anandproposed legalising the exhibition ofX-ratedfilms in selected cinemas. Anand said, "Porn is shown everywhere in India clandestinely... and the best way to fight this onslaught of blue movies is to show them openly in theatres with legally authorised licences".Anand resigned less than a year after becoming chairperson in the wake of his proposal.

The board refused to certifyGulabi Aaina(a film about Indiantranssexualsproduced and directed bySridhar Rangayan) in 2003; Rangayan unsuccessfully appealed the decision twice. Although the film isbannedin India, it has been screened internationally.

Final Solution,a 2004 documentary examining religious riots betweenHindusandMuslimsinGujaratwhich killed over 1,000 people, was also banned. According to the board, the film was "highly provocative and may trigger off unrest and communal violence".After a sustained campaign, the ban was lifted in October of that year.

The CBFC demanded five cuts from the 2011 American film,The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,because ofnudityand rape scenes. The producers and the director,David Fincher,eventually decided not to release the film in India.

CEO Rakesh Kumar was arrested in August 2014 for accepting bribes to expedite the issuance of certificates.The board demanded four cuts (three visual and one audio) from the 2015Malayalam film,Chaayam Poosiya Veedu) (directed by brothers Santosh Babusenan and Satish Babusenan), because of nude scenes. The directors refused to make the changes, and the film was not certified.

CBFC chairLeela Samsonresigned in protest of political interference in the board's work in 2015 after its decision to refuse certification of the film,MSG: The Messenger,was overturned by an appellate tribunal. Samson was replaced byPahlaj Nihalani,whoseBharatiya Janata Partyaffiliation triggered a wave of additional board resignations.The board was criticised for ordering the screen time of two kissing scenes in the James Bond filmSpectreto be cut by half for release.

Udta Punjab(2016), a crime drama about drug issues in the state ofPunjab,produced byAnurag Kashyap,Ekta Kapoor,et al., inspired a list of 94 cuts and 13 pointers (including an order to remove Punjabi city names). TheBombay High Courtallowed the film's release with one cut and disclaimers.A copy of the film wasleaked online,with evidence suggesting CBFC involvement.Kashyap posted on Facebook that although he did not object to free downloads, he hoped that viewers would pay for the film.The film eventually grossed over₹97 crore(US$12 million),a commercial success. In August 2017, days after his removal as CBFC chair, Nihalani said in an interview that he had received instructions from theMinistry of Information and Broadcastingto block the release of this film and at least one other.

Lipstick Under My Burkha(2017) byAlankrita Shrivastava,produced byPrakash Jha,was initially denied certification, with the CBFC claiming that "The story is lady oriented, their fantasy above life. There are contanious [sic] sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society".The black comedy, which had been screened at international film festivals, was eligible for theGolden Globes.The filmmakers appealed to the board's Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which authorised its release.The FCAT requested some cuts (primarily to sex scenes), and the film was released with an "A" certificate. Shrivastava said she would have preferred no cuts, but felt the film's narrative and essence were left intact, and commended the FCAT's handling of the issue.

In 2018,Ashvin Kumar's filmNo Fathers in Kashmirat first received an "A" certificate. In his open letter to the CBFC chair, Kumar stated that for an independent film, this was "as good as banning the film".After appealing to the FCAT and incorporating a few cuts and disclaimers at its request, the film was granted a "U/A" certificate eight months after its initial submission.

External links

• Official website