Why in the News?

• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has notified new film certification guidelines for the Central Board of Film Certification, retaining the 1991 framework while adding two new provisions.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• About CBFC (Objectives, Certification Categories)
• News Summary (New Guidelines, Significance)

About the CBFC

• The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, established under the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
• Its function is to certify films for public exhibition in India. Contrary to common perception, the Board's mandate is certification rather than censorship; it assigns films to categories indicating audience suitability, though it may also require modifications before granting a certificate.

Certification Categories

• Following the Cinematograph Rules, 2024, the certification structure includes:
  • U: Unrestricted public exhibition
  • UA: Unrestricted with parental guidance, now subdivided into three age-based markers
  • A: Restricted to adults
  • S: Restricted to a specialised class of persons, such as doctors or scientists
• The UA category now carries three new sub-categories: UA 7+, UA 13+ and UA 16+, marking content suitable for children aged seven, thirteen and sixteen respectively.

News Summary

• The revised guidelines retain all aspects of the detailed 1991 version, with two new additions.
• Addition One: Drug-Related Warnings
  • Scenes depicting or involving the use, consumption or trafficking of narcotic drugs or other psychotropic substances must now carry a disclaimer or statutory warning.
  • This aligns film certification with the broader government push against substance abuse, including the recently launched national anti-drug campaign targeting youth.
• Addition Two: Age-Based Markers
  • The second addition specifies new age markers in line with the three UA sub-categories notified under the Cinematograph Rules, 2024.
  • Where the Board considers it necessary to caution parents or guardians about whether their wards should watch a film, it will certify the film for unrestricted public exhibition with an endorsement to that effect.
  • This gives parents a more granular indication of suitability than the single UA category previously allowed.

Continuing Provisions from the 1991 Framework

• The bulk of the guidelines carry forward long-standing requirements.
• On Violence and Crime
  • The CBFC is to ensure that anti-social activities and violence are not glorified or justified, and that the modus operandi of criminals or other visuals and words likely to incite an offence are not depicted.
  • Scenes justifying or glorifying drinking are also to be avoided.
• On Children
  • Scenes showing the involvement of children in violence, as victims, perpetrators or forced witnesses, or showing children subjected to any form of child abuse are not to be presented needlessly.
• On Vulnerable Groups and Animals
  • The Board is to discourage scenes showing abuse or ridicule of physically and mentally handicapped persons, as well as scenes depicting cruelty to or abuse of animals.
• On Obscenity and Depiction of Women
  • The guidelines require that human sensibilities are not offended by vulgarity, obscenity or depravity, that dual-meaning words catering to baser instincts are not allowed, and that scenes degrading or denigrating women in any manner are not presented.

The Eight Specified Requirements

• National symbols and emblems are not shown except in accordance with the Emblems and Names Act, 1950.
• Scenes involving sexual violence against women, attempted rape, rape, molestation or similar, are avoided. Where germane to the theme, they must be reduced to the minimum with no details shown.
• Scenes showing sexual perversions are avoided, and where germane to the theme, reduced to the minimum with no details shown.
• Visuals or words contemptuous of racial, religious or other groups are not presented.
• Visuals or words promoting communal, obscurantist, anti-scientific and anti-national attitudes are not presented.
• The sovereignty and integrity of India is not called into question, the security of the State is not jeopardised, and friendly relations with foreign States are not strained.
• Public order is not endangered.
• Visuals or words involving defamation of an individual or body of individuals, or contempt of court, are not presented.

Constitutional Context

• These guidelines derive from Article 19(2) of the Constitution, which permits reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression on grounds including the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offence.
• The overlap between the guidelines and these constitutional grounds is close, reflecting the framework within which film certification operates.
• The Supreme Court in K.A. Abbas v. Union of India (1970) upheld pre-censorship of films, holding that the medium's mass appeal and emotional impact justified treating it differently from other forms of expression.

Significance

• The revision is modest in substance but notable in what it signals.
• By retaining the 1991 guidelines almost entirely, the Ministry has opted for continuity rather than a wholesale rewrite, despite considerable changes in the film industry, viewing platforms and audience expectations over three and a half decades.
• The age-based UA markers represent a genuine improvement in information for parents, bringing India closer to graded classification systems used in several other countries.
• The drug warning requirement places film certification within a wider policy campaign, using cinema as a channel for public messaging.