Central Board of Film Certification: India
Central Board of Film Certification
The Times of India Jan 19 2015
CBFC bans screening if film corrupts viewers' morality How is public exhibition of films regulated in India?
The Cinematograph Act, 1952 makes provisions for film certification and regulates public exhibitions of movies in India. Under this Act, if a film or any part of it is against the interest of the sovereignty , integrity and security of India or can affect the country's friendly relations with foreign states, it cannot be exhibited in India. Similarly , a films that corrupts morality of the audience, can have an adverse impact on public order, or is intended to cause defamation or contempt of court or is likely to incite commission of any offence, cannot be screened. All this is judged by examining a film's overall impact and the contemporary standards of the country and the people to whom it relates. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which was earlier known as the Central Board of Film Censors, was established in 1951 and had regional offices in Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta. At present, there are nine such offices located at various film making cities -Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Cut tack and Guwahati. Film certification is a Central sub ject, but the states are responsible for enforcement and bringing offenders to book. The Board consists of a Chairperson and not less than 12 and not more than 25 other members ap pointed by the Centre.
What are the various kinds of film certification?
Initially, the Cinematograph Act had only two categories of certificates.
A film would be certified `U' unrestricted public exhibition -if the board thought it was suitable for family viewing, meaning all members of a family including children could watch it. The other category was ` A', which was given to films that the board consid ered ought to be restricted to an adult audience. In June 1983, two other categories were added. These were UA and S. The former means unre stricted public exhibition, but parents of children below the age of 12 are cautioned and it is up to them whether to allow their child to watch the film. The `S' category restricts the viewership to specialized audiences like doctors or scientists.What is the process of certification?
The Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983 have laid down the procedure that a producer must go through before the screening of a movie. The film or video material is to be submitted to the regional office, which forms an examining committee to watch the film. For short films, a twomember examining committee is formed, of which one has to be a woman. For feature length films, a four-member examining committee is formed, of which two must be women. All members of the committee submit their reports, which may have recommendations about deletions, modifications and so on. The chairperson can either approve the recommendations or refer them to a revising committee. According to the recommendation of the board, the applicant deletes portions and submits them to the regional officer along with a copy of the film as certified. If the producer is unsatisfied with the decision of the board, then he or she can take the matter to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.
2012-15
The Times of India, Jul 08 2015
CAG slams Censor Board functioning
The CAG pulled up the Censor Board for flouting several norms that led to irregular conversion of `A' category films into `UA' and `U', besides alleged fabrication of documents and favouritism while issuing certificates. The report mentions that the Censor Board of Film Certification converted 172 A-category certified films into UA and 166 films of UAcategory into U during 2012-15 without taking any law or provision into account. This data was provided by the CAG in its 70-page reply in response to an RTI query by activist Vihar Durve.
