Movie Ratings By Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) INDIA

The Censor Board presently gives four categories of certificates, namely,

U: Unrestricted Public Exhibition throughout India,

A: Public exhibition restricted to adults above 18 years only,

U/A: Unrestricted public exhibition with parental guidance for children below the age of 12

S: Exhibition to restricted audience such as doctors etc.

The Film Rating system of CBFC categorizing films into 'U', 'UA', 'A', 'S' is not only simplistic but also primitive. Except for the letters such as 'A', 'U' etc. there is no audience-friendly system of film ratings in the form of 'icons' of different colors indicating different age groups, unlike many other countries.

Before screening of the film, only the original Censor certificate is displayed in which except for the 'certified title' ('A', 'U' etc.) in which nothing else can be read by the audience. (See the sample censor certificate)

While the CBFC certifies hundreds of films in Indian regional languages (e.g., Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali etc.), the contents of Censor Certificate/Caution are in English and Hindi only. Hence, ordinary viewers and illiterates can't understand anything about CBFC Film ratings.

As the CBFC's website (http://cbfcindia.gov.in/) was non-functional for many years, the audience had no online facility to know about the CBFC Ratings of the newly-certified films till the new website was launched on 30.04.2010.

The Film ratings of CBFC are not prominently indicated in the film publicity material such as posters, handbills etc. and advertisements in print media etc. though the law provides for the same. Nowadays, television and the internet have become major forms of media through which film publicity reaches millions of audience through advertisements, film-based programmes, Local Film listings, exclusive websites on new films etc, but presently, there is no legal stipulation that film publicity through electronic media should indicate/display CBFC rating. This lacuna questions the very utility and relevance of CBFC and its ratings.

Consequent to the High Court's order in above writ petition, Ministry of I&B, in December, 2009, has decided to modify the censor caution and amend relevant rules accordingly. Also, the draft Cinematograph Bill, 2010 has proposed two more Film Rating Categories 12+, 15+ in place of existing U/A and provided for monetary penalty for not displaying the Censor Certificate before exhibition of the film. (Position by the end of April, 2010). Despite of these rating, there is no need to show Identification Card to get entrance.