The Central Board of Film Certification has drawn a clearer line between a film’s marketing calendar and its statutory clearance. In a new advisory, the board has set out five requirements for applicants under the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and the Cinematograph Rules, 2024, with two messages standing out: incomplete films will not be examined, and an announced release date will not push a title to the front of the queue.
The notice arrives nearly two months after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reconstituted the board, appointing 18 members for a three-year term. It reads as an attempt to set expectations for producers who often treat certification as the last logistical step rather than a legal one.
What the board will examine
The sharpest instruction concerns completeness. The CBFC has said a submitted film must be in its final form, with graphics, background score, sound mix and theatrical accessibility features all finished. A print that arrives unfinished may be treated as non-compliant, which could mean delays, return or outright rejection.
Title approval also carries a caveat. Submitting a name for certification does not guarantee it will be cleared, and filmmakers are advised to prepare for a change even after a title has been announced publicly. Recent renames in Hindi cinema—including Manoj Bajpayee’s ‘Ghoshkar Pandit’, later released as ‘Gajab Raat’—illustrate how routine such changes have become.
Five rules in brief
- Final cut only: submit the finished theatrical version, not a work-in-progress.
- Treat the title as provisional: public announcement does not equal approval.
- Unfinished prints are non-compliant: expect delays, return or rejection.
- Release dates are not priority: certification follows statutory timelines.
- Build in time: apply well ahead and cooperate with the board.
No fast pass for release dates
Perhaps the most consequential line is aimed at producers who lock a theatrical date and then expect the censor process to bend to it. The advisory is explicit: “Certification shall follow the due process, procedure and timelines prescribed under the extant Act and Rules, irrespective of any release date fixed or publicised by the producer/Applicant.”
The board’s position lands at a moment when several high-profile films have faced certification-related delays. Thalapathy Vijay’s ‘Jana Nayagan’ reportedly waited nearly six months beyond its initially scheduled date for clearance, while the makers of Salman Khan’s ‘Maatrubhumi’ have said the film has not yet been submitted. Public announcements, in other words, have moved faster than the statutory process in recent months.
Why the timing matters
The advisory follows a reconstituted board that includes actors Pankaj Tripathi, Preity Zinta, Suniel Shetty, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rupali Ganguly, Pallavi Joshi and Manoj Joshi, along with filmmaker Priyadarshan and musician Ricky Kej, among its 18 members. For Hindi cinema, where release dates are often treated as marketing events, the reminder to factor certification timelines into planning—and to submit early—is a practical one. It asks producers to treat the censor process as part of the production calendar, not as a formality to be hurried at the end.
Source: The Times of India
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