Prasoon Joshi-led CBFC suggests new initiatives

Mumbai: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), chaired by Prasoon Joshi, has suggested new initiatives such as to invite the heads and members of Hindi and regional film associations, and a communication campaign for educating audience segments about the various categories that film content is certified under.

A CBFC board meeting was held here last week under Prasoon's guidance. 

Initiatives for the film industry include the first-of-its-kind step to invite the heads and members of the Hindi and regional film associations like those from the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association, Indian Film and Television Producers Council and South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce to work mutually towards a more efficient and responsible certification process.

Prasoon also had other new initiatives to share like developing a new design of the CBFC certificate keeping in mind the requirements of QR code, prominent display of category code and a guidance video to be prepared for the new and upcoming filmmakers and production houses explaining the online certification process in a simple manner. 

He has also proposed a communication campaign for educating audience segments about the various categories that the film's content is certified under, so that they can decode the film certificates and make an informed choice for themselves and especially children. 

"I have been working with the board members and CBFC officials for the last one year for making sure that we make the entire film certification process a smooth one," Prasoon said in a statement.

"We have taken an initiative to have the interactions with key industry bodies with the CBFC board which in my opinion will go a long way in further streamlining processes."

Siddharth Roy Kapur, President of the Film and Television Producers' Guild of India, said: "This was a wonderful initiative by Prasoon Joshi and CBFC board members to solicit feedback and suggestions from the industry. We discussed issues and solutions in an open and cordial fashion and I hope this becomes a regular occurrence."

Suparn Sen, the secretary of the Film Federation of India, found the film industry's interaction with the board "very meaningful". 

CBFC board member Vani Tripathi Tikoo called it one of the "monumental meetings of CBFC with a serious focus on outreach for the industry". 

Prasoon had replaced Pahlaj Nihalani, who was slammed by many for being too "sanskari", as the CBFC chief in August last year. Many filmmakers had locked horns with CBFC over its demands for cuts, mutes and changes.

He had earlier said it's time to move to "content from controversy".

"It should be more about the content that drives a film. Why should CBFC be used for a controversy? It is an organisation that consists of people like any other organisation, so why should we be unfair to people who work in CBFC and completely unappreciate the efforts?" he had asked.