New Delhi: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has rolled out revised guidelines for how films will get certified in India. The new guidelines, notified by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), includes the detailed 1991 version in addition to two new guidelines.
One key guideline is that any scene showing narcotics or psychotropic substances being consumed, used or trafficked must now carry a statutory warning: “Illicit Narcotics Destroy Health and Guarantees Imprisonment. Say No To Drugs.”
Under the new framework, the films can be certified U, UA, UA 7+, UA 13+, UA 16+ or A. Anything that clears certification but isn’t suitable for minors gets an adult certificate. The content cleared for unrestricted viewing has to work for family audiences, with the UA sub-bands available where some parental guidance is warranted.
CBFC Chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati posted the updated guidelines on X, saying: “Request all film makers to study the revised Guidelines for Film Certification and understand the framework within which Film Certification happens before submitting applications. Calling upon all Film Associations and Bodies to disseminate the guidelines within the fraternity to create greater awareness and appreciation of the guidelines.”
Request all film makers to study the revised Guidelines for Film Certification and understand the framework within which Film Certification happens before submitting applications. Calling upon all Film Associations and Bodies to disseminate the guidelines within the fraternity to… https://t.co/vv5DzMqsp7
— Shashi Shekhar Vempati शशि शेखर वेम्पटि (@shashidigital) September 18, 2026
The older 1991 guidelines reiterated that any content that could hurt “sentiments or sensibilities of people” should be avoided and also cautioned against depicting child abuse, crimes against women, and violence that isn’t necessary to the story.
CBFC added that there will be ban on content that promotes “communal, obscurantist, anti-scientific or anti-national attitudes,” and a requirement that films must not “strain India’s friendly relations with foreign states.” The second clause is already in action.
Salman Khan’s war drama Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace (formerly Galwan Attack), which dramatizes the 2020 India-China military clash, has reportedly faced certification delays partly over how it handles China-related content. The film comes at a moment when New Delhi and Beijing are trying to stabilize relations.
Another old rule that the CBFC reiterated was scrutiny of titles, ruling out anything “provocative, vulgar or offensive.” For example, the board initially objected to the Malayalam film Janaki vs State of Kerala (2025) because it felt Janaki (a name tied to Goddess Sita) shouldn’t be used for a sexual-assault survivor character. The dispute went to the Kerala High Court, which questioned the objection given how many existing films use deity-linked names. Eventually, the film’s name was not changed.
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Building on existing rules
The current framework builds on guidelines that have existed, in some form, since 1991. However, a 2016 committee tried to overhaul the approach. An Expert Committee chaired by filmmaker Shyam Benegal, set up by the I&B Ministry in January 2016, found that some 1991 objectives like requiring films to be “sensitive to the values of society” or provide “clean and healthy entertainment” weren’t really within CBFC’s remit, and recommended the board function purely as a certifying body rather than one that dictates cuts. It also proposed splitting the UA category into UA 12+ and UA 15+, a recommendation the current UA 7+/13+/16+ structure appears to build on.
Now, the 18-member board, reconstituted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, includes several familiar faces from Indian cinema including Pankaj Tripathi, Preity Zinta and Rupali Ganguly among them. The CBFC’s leadership itself has seen turnover recently: Shashi Shekhar Vempati, former CEO of Prasar Bharati, was appointed CBFC chairperson in May 2026, succeeding Prasoon Joshi, who moved to chair Prasar Bharati after serving as CBFC chief for over eight years.
The current framework hasn’t fully adopted the Benegal committee’s philosophy. Despite that report flagging “sensitivity to social values” as overreach, the new guidelines retain almost identical language.
Alongside these guidelines, a broader set of laws still applies. Certification decisions also have to account for the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, tobacco-advertising rules under COTPA, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, and SC/ST atrocity-prevention law, among others. None of which is new, but all of which continues to exist alongside whatever fresh guidelines CBFC issues.