Central Board of Film Certification

Central Board of Film Certification (India)
Formation 1951
Type Government Organisation
Purpose Film Certification
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Region served
 India
Chairperson
 Pahlaj Nihalani
Parent organisation
 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Budget
 ₹69 million (US$1.0 million) (2011)
Website cbfcindia.gov.in

The Central Board of Film Certification (often referred to as the Censor Board) is a statutory censorship and classification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952". It assigns certifications to films, television shows, television ads, and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in India. Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after they are certified by the Board, including films shown on television.

History

Though the first film in India (Raja Harishchandra) was produced in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke, the Indian Cinematograph Act was passed and came into effect only in 1920. Censor Boards (as they were called then) were placed under police chiefs in cities of Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (now Kolkata), Lahore (now in Pakistan) and Rangoon (now Yangon in Burma). Regional censors were independent. After Independence autonomy of regional censors was abolished and they were brought under the Bombay Board of Film Censors. With implementation of Cinematograph Act, 1952, the board was unified and reconstituted, as the Central Board of Film Censors. Cinematograph (Certification) Rules were revised in 1983 and since then the Central Board of Film Censors became known as the Central Board of Film Certification.[1]

Certificates

Films are certified under 4 categories. Initially, there were only two categories of certificates – "U" (unrestricted public exhibition) and "A" (restricted to adult audiences). Two more categories were added in June 1983 – "UA" (unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of twelve) and "S" (restricted to specialized audiences such as doctors or scientists).

Films with the U certification are fit for public exhibition, and are often family friendly. These films can contain universal themes like education, family, drama, romance, sci - fi, and action etc. Now, these films can also contain some mild violence, but it should not be prolonged.

Films with the UA certification can contain universal to adult themes, that are not strong in nature and can be watched by a child under parental guidance. These films can contain some strong violence,frightening scenes and bad, abusive, filthy language etc.

Films with the A certification are available for public exhibition, but with restriction to adults. These films can contain heavily strong violence, kissing scenes, implied sex, some coarse language and even some controversial and adult themes considered unsuitable for young viewers. Such films are often recertified for TV and video viewing, which doesn't happen in case of U and UA certified movies.

Films with S certification should not be viewed by the public. Only people associated with science (Engineers, Doctors, Scientists etc.) have permission to watch those films

Composition and leadership

The Board consist of 25 other non-official members and a Chairperson (all of whom are appointed by Central Government). Pahlaj Nihalani presently presides the Board after Leela Samson who resigned[2] after the CBFC's rejection of a certifate for the film MSG: Messenger of God was overturned by an appellate tribunal. Earlier, Leela Samson had succeeded Sharmila Tagore,[1][3] who was the longest continuous running Chairperson in the history. Nihalani is now the 27th Chairperson after the Board's establishment. His appointment is highly controversial given his propensity for censoring films instead of merely certifying them.

The Board functions with its headquarters at Mumbai. It has nine Regional offices each at:

The Regional Offices are assisted in the examination of films by Advisory Panels. The members of the panels are nominated by Central Government by drawing people from different walks of life for a period of two years.

Chairpersons of the CBFC

No. Name From To
1C S Aggarwal15 January 195114 June 1954
2B D Mirchandani15 June 19549 June 1955
3M D Bhatt10 June 195521 November 1959
4D L Kothari22 November 195924 March 1960
5B D Mirchandani25 March 19601 November 1960
6D L Kothari2 November 196022 April 1965
7B P Bhatt23 April 196522 April 1968
8R P Nayak31 April 196815 November 1969
9M V Desai12 December 196919 October 1970
10R Srinivasan20 October 197015 November 1971
11Virendra Vyas11 February 197230 June 1976
12K L Khandpur1 July 197631 January 1981
13Hrishikesh Mukherjee1 February 198110 August 1982
14Aparna Mohile11 August 198214 March 1983
15Sharad Upasani15 March 19839 May 1983
16Surresh Mathur10 May 19837 July 1983
17Vikram Singh8 July 198319 February 1989
18Moreshwar Vanmali20 February 198925 April 1990
19B P Singhal25 April 19901 April 1991
20Shakti Samanta1 April 199125 June 1998
21Asha Parekh25 June 199825 September 2001
22Vijay Anand[4]26 September 200119 July 2002
23Arvind Trivedi20 July 200216 October 2003
24Anupam Kher[5]16 October 200313 October 2004
25Sharmila Tagore[6]13 October 200431 March 2011
26Leela Samson1 April 201116 January 2015
27Pahlaj Nihalani19 January 2015 19 January 2017

References

  1. 1 2 "Background". CBFC Website. Central Board of Film Certification. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  2. ↑ Ashreena, Tanya (16 Jan 2015). "Censor board chief Leela Samson quits over Dera Sacha Sauda leader's Bollywood dreams". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Dhwan, Himanshi (29 March 2011). "Danseuse Leela Samson is new Censor Board chief". Times of India. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. ↑ IndiaTimes Movies staff reporter (22 July 2002). timesofindia. indiatimes. com/2002 July 22/news-interviews/27308006_1_vijay-anand-cbfc-chairman-films "Vijay Anand Quits Censor Board" Check |url= value (help). Times of India. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  5. ↑ rediff. com Entertainment Bureau Staff reporter (8 October 2003). com/movies/2003/oct/08kher. htm "Anupam Kher is new chief of censors" Check |url= value (help). Rediff Movies. rediff. com. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  6. ↑ Indo-Asian News Service (16 October 2004). com/channels/hindi/article/10963. html "Sharmila Tagore replaces Kher" Check |url= value (help). IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 9 January 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.