In what will come as a big relief for the film industry, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Cinematograph Act, 1952, on Wednesday. This has been aimed at curbing the menace of film piracy and comprehensively addressing the issues relating to film certification. Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur, said the bill would be introduced in the upcoming session of Parliament and added that it is aimed at ensuring that the films do not suffer due to piracy, as the menace causes heavy losses to the industry.

In simple words, the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023 will entail that the unauthorised recording and exhibition of films in movie theatres is now an offence. Also, now the government can block websites where unauthorized copies of films are transmitted.

Central Board of Film Certification member Vani Tripathi Tikoo tells us, “This was long overdue. I have been constantly saying that the Act is not just crying out for an amendment but that the character of the content has also changed. In fact, film piracy should be a criminal, non-cognizable offence. You must realise that cartel industries across the world, whether it’s drugs or mafia, in so many countries, have been connected to film piracy.”

The amendment has been welcomed by makers, especially producers, as it’s their money at stake when a film is made. Producer Boney Kapoor, whose 2022 Tamil film Valimai was leaked by pirates on websites immediately after the release, calls it “a much-needed, positive step”. Shibasish Sarkar, president, Producers Guild of India, says: “This will help to curb the menace of film piracy and introduce age-based categories for certification for uniform categorization of films across all platforms.” 

Prominent lawyer Hitesh Jain, who was instrumental in representing the interests of the entertainment industry, says, “This is a pathbreaking development. These amendments will make the system very process-oriented. Also, age-based categorization in the UA certification is a very progressive step.”

The censorship certificates issued by the CBFC will now last forever instead of requiring renewal every 10 years. Film certification will be further divided, and the U/A certification of films has been divided into UA 7+, UA 13+ and UA 16+, which are only recommendatory (guardians get to take the call).