In March 2022, the then information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur had told the parliament that the CBFC cannot ban a movie; it can only refuse certification.
New Delhi The Central Board of Film Certification refused to certify only two movies between 2019-20 and 2023-24 – one in 2019-20 and another in 2022-23, both in Hindi, minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written response on Friday. HT has asked MIB for names of the two movies and reasons for refusal of certification.
Rajya Sabha proceeding underway during the Winter Session of Parliament, in New Delhi. (SansadTV YouTube)
In this period, a total of 10,702 movies were certified by CBFC in digital format [note to desk: this is not a reference to streaming platforms] and 8,978 in video format. It is only in 2023-24 that the number of movies certified in video format was lower than the digital format (2,605 versus 871).
In March 2022, the then information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur had told the parliament that the CBFC cannot ban a movie; it can only refuse certification. Between 2014-15 and 2018-19, five movies had been refused certification by the CBFC – one in 2014-15, two in 2016-17, and two in 2018-19.