Bad news for movie buffs! Censored parts of films to stay out of internet

NEW DELHI: Film buffs may no longer be able to turn to the Internet for watching portions found objectionable by the censor board.

This follows the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification to bar film-makers from releasing the excised portions to anybody, including on the Web.

Film-makers will now be required to furnish an undertaking to this effect, Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal told the Punjab & Haryana High Court on Wednesday on behalf of the information & broadcasting ministry and the censor board.

The matter came up during resumed hearing of a public interest litigation filed in January against the release of Mastizaade and Kya Kool Hain Hum 3.


The decision seeks to plug the loophole in the law, which restrains film-makers from releasing censored portions in cinema halls or on television but is silent on the release of the material on the Internet. As a result, censored portions of quite a few films have found their way to the Internet, especially on YouTube.

The petitioner had annexed a compact disc of scenes from the two films which were downloaded from YouTube and contended that the scenes were highly objectionable and vulgar.

The court had then sought responses from the ministry and the censor board. On perusal of the CD it was discovered that the scenes were excised by the censor board and were no longer part of thefilms.

Mittal had told the court that the board had no powers to certify content on the Internet. The court had, however, asked the ministry to come up with a solution. The ministry and the censor board, instead of taking the long route of amending the law, arrived at a decision within a fortnight to take an undertaking from film-makers.

The affidavit filed in the court on Wednesday said, “It is submitted that the deponent would ensure that through the undertaking to be submitted by the producers/directors that they would not release the excised portion of the feature/film to anybody.”

The court accepted the affidavit, empowering the board to regulate release of film content on the Web. The affidavit said there are no provisions in the Cinematograph Act to certify content which is posted on the Internet, on YouTube or any other website.

Asper the affidavit, the board certifies films only for public exhibition in theatre or satellite/television channels, promos, trailers, etc, after examining the overall content as per the Cinematograph Act, 1952, Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, and guidelines, 1991. The content on television channels is governed by the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, it said.