The Central Board of Film Certification (popularly known as the Censor Board) is a Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 regulatory

Regulation

Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...

 body and censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 board of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 controlled by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It reviews, rates and censors motion pictures

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, television shows, television ads, and promotional material. It regulates the public exhibition of films in India under the provisions of The Cinematograph Act 1952. Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after certification by the Board.

According to the Supreme Court of India

Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...

 :

History

Cinema came to India in 1896 when the first show at Watson hotel, Bombay (now Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

) by Lumière Brothers

Auguste and Louis Lumière

The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...

 was presented in July. •The Cinematograph Act 1909

Cinematograph Act 1909

The Cinematograph Act 1909 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It was the first primary legislation in the UK which specifically regulated the film industry...

 of England was initialized. The act basically covered strict requirements for fire-safety of theatres. The film then in use was made from the highly flammable cellulose nitrate base. Combined with limelight

Limelight

Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime , which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and...

 illumination, this created a significant safety hazard, resulting in a number of fatal fires.

As the first film in India (Raja Harishchandra

Raja Harishchandra

Raja Harishchandra , is a 1913 silent Indian film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, and is the first full-length Indian feature film...

) was produced in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke

Dadasaheb Phalke

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the father of Indian cinema...

, 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

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

), Bombay (now Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

), Calcutta (now Kolkatta), Lahore (now Lahore in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

) and Rangoon (now Yangon

Yangon

Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...

 in Burma). and Regional censors were independent. After Independence autonomy of regional censors was abolished and they were brought under Censor Board, Bombay with implementation of Cinematograph Act, 1952. Cinematograph (Certification) Rules were revised in 1983 and since then the Censor Board became Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Current certificates

The CBFC currently issues the following certificates.

Symbol	Name	Definition/Notes
U	Universal	All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children. Films under this category should not upset children over 4. This rating is similar to the MPAA's G, the BBFC's U, and the OFLC's G ratings.
U/A	Parental Guidance	All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 12. This rating is similar to the MPAA's PG-13, the BBFC's 12A, and the OFLC's PG and M ratings.
A	Adults Only	Only adults are admitted. Nobody younger than 18 may rent or buy an A-rated VHS VHS The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan .... , DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... , Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs... , UMD Universal Media Disc The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...  or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with non-detailed sexual activity is also allowed. This rating is similar to the MPAA's R and NC-17, the BBFC's 18, and the OFLC's MA and R ratings.
S	Restricted to any special class of persons	This rating signifies that the film is meant for a specialised audience, such as doctors.

U/A and S certificates were introduced in 1983.

Board

The Board consist of non-official members and a Chairperson (all of whom are appointed by Central Government). Bharatnatyam dancer, Leela Samson

Leela Samson

Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and writer. As a soloist she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years; presently she is the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification ;...

 presently presides the Board after Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore

Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...

  who was the longest continuous running Chairperson in the history. Samson is now the 26th Chairperson after the Board's establishment.

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

• Mumbai
• Kolkata
• Chennai
• Bangalore
• Thiruvananthapuram
• Hyderabad
• New Delhi
• Cuttack
• Guwahati

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 2 years.

Name and Tenure of the Chairperson

Sr. No.	Name	From	To
1	C.S. Aggarwal	15-01-1951	14-06-1954
2	B.D. Mirchandani	15-06-1954	09-06-1955
3	M.D. Bhatt	10-06-1955	21-11-1959
4	D.L. Kothari	22-11-1959	24-03-1960
5	B.D. Mirchandani	25-03-1960	01-11-1960
6	D.L. Kothari	02-11-1960	22-04-1965
7	B.P. Bhatt	23-04-1965	22-04-1968
8	R.P. Nayak	23-04-1968	15-11-1969
9	M.V. Desai	12-12-1969	19-10-1970
10	R. Srinivasan	20-10-1970	15-11-1971
11	Virendra Vyas	11-02-1972	30-06-1976
12	K.L. Khandpur	01-07-1976	31-01-1981
13	Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee ) was a famous Indian film director known for a number of films, including Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Anupama, Anand, Abhimaan, Guddi, Gol Maal, Aashirwad, Bawarchi, and Namak Haraam.Popularly known as Hrishi-da, he directed 42 films during his career spanning over four decades,...	01-02-1981	10-08-1982
14	Aparna Mohile	11-08-1982	14-03-1983
15	Sharad Upasani	15-03-1983	09-05-1983
16	Surresh Mathur	10-05-1983	07-07-1983
17	Vikram Singh Vikram Singh Vikram Raj Vir Singh , commonly known as V. R. V. Singh, is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since April 2006. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He is considered as one of the few genuine fast bowlers India has produced over the last decade...	08-07-1983	19-02-1989
18	Moreshwar Vanmali	20-02-1989	25-04-1990
19	B.P.Singhal	25-04-1990	01-04-1991
20	Shakti Samanta Shakti Samanta Shakti Samanta was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films like Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening in Paris, Kati Patang and Amar Prem.He received Filmfare Awards for Best Film for Aradhana, Anuraag and Amanush,...	01-04-1991	25-06-1998
21	Asha Parekh Asha Parekh Asha Parekh is a Bollywood actress, director, and producer. She was one of the top stars in Hindi films from 1959 to 1973.-Early life:...	25-06-1998	25-09-2001
22	Vijay Anand	26-09-2001	19-07-2002
23	Arvind Trivedi Arvind Trivedi Arvind Trivedi is an Indian actor. He, alongside his brother Upendra Trivedi, has been prolific in Gujarati cinema. He is also famous for portraying Ravan in Ramanand Sagar's television series Ramayan...	20-07-2002	16-10-2003
24	Anupam Kher Anupam Kher Anupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in nearly 400 films and 100 plays. Though mainly appearing in Bollywood films, he has had roles in some films from other nations as well...	16-10-2003	13-10-2004
25	Sharmila Tagore Sharmila Tagore Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...	13-10-2004	31-03-2011
26	Leela Samson Leela Samson Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and writer. As a soloist she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years; presently she is the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification ;...	01-04-2011	Till Date