Central Board of Film Certification
film certification body of India

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952." The Cinematograph Act 1952 outlines a strict certification process for commercial films shown in public venues. Films screened in cinemas and on television may only be publicly exhibited in India after certification by the board and edited.
Certificates and guidelines
The board currently issues four certificates. Originally, there were two: U (unrestricted public exhibition with family-friendly movies) and A (public exhibition restricted to adults but any kind of nudity not allowed). Two more were added in June 1983 that are U/A (unrestricted public exhibition, with parental guidance for children under 12) and S (restricted to specialised audiences, such as doctors or scientists). The board may refuse to certify a film. Additionally, V/U, V/UA, V/A are used for video films with U, U/A and A carrying the same meaning as above. Variations of the U/A certificate were introduced in November 2024: U/A 7+, U/A 13+ and U/A 16+.
U certificate
Films with the U certification are available for unrestricted public exhibition and are family-friendly.
The public source identifies “Central Board of Film Certification” as film certification body of India. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Central, Board and Film.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2944404. VIAF identifies the subject as 122701892. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1983 and 2024.
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This entry incorporates text from “Central Board of Film Certification” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.