Grammy Award-winning musician Ricky Kej is a part of the newly reconstituted Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). He recently weighed in on the recently revised guidelines, which expand the age-based certification of films, following the amendments to the Cinematograph Act 2023 in May last year.Ricky Kej on filtering cinema for childrenFor Ricky Kej, the expanded age classifications could help reduce the need for cuts while giving parents greater clarity about what their children watch. “My priority, at least my personal priority on the board, will be to ensure that these classifications are applied accurately, so that parents are empowered to make informed choices and hopefully, we lessen the need to actually edit or cut content meant for mature audiences,” argued Ricky, who has extensively made music primarily designed for children, which has allowed him to “care very deeply about the impact on young minds.”However, Ricky pointed out that making cinema suitable for children doesn’t have to come at the cost of sanitizing even the films with an ‘A’ (Adults Only) certificate. “However, I do acknowledge that protecting children does not mean sanitising cinema for adults,” he told NDTV. Recent trends have shown a surge in the success of ‘A’-rated films, from Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 family crime drama Animal to Aditya Dhar’s more recent spy thriller franchise Dhurandhar.The age-based categories — UA 7+, UA 13+ and UA 16+ — were introduced through amendments to the Cinematograph Act in 2023 and incorporated into the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024. The three markers advise parents or guardians to consider whether children below the specified ages should be allowed to watch a film. The CBFC began issuing UA certificates with the new age-based markers in October 2024. A ‘U’ certificate allows unrestricted public exhibition, while an ‘A’ certificate restricts a film’s public exhibition to adults.Change in CBFC guidelines and constitutionThe Centre on Wednesday reconstituted the CBFC, bringing actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi and Prosenjit Chatterjee, and filmmaker Priyadarshan among others, onto its new 18-member board. Headed by chairperson and former Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the reconstituted board has been given a three-year term or will continue until further orders, whichever is earlier.The CBFC’s certification guidelines require the board to ensure that anti-social activities such as violence are not glorified or justified, the modus operandi of criminals or other material likely to incite an offence is not depicted, and scenes encouraging, justifying or glamourising drug addiction are not shown. The guidelines also address depictions of violence, cruelty and sexual content, as well as material that could endanger public order, jeopardise the security of the State or strain India’s friendly relations with foreign states.Also Read — Neem Karoli Baba biopic Hanuman Ansh earns 6x of Kareena Kapoor’s DaayraStory continues below this adUnder the revised guidelines, scenes depicting or involving the consumption, use or trafficking of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances will have to carry the warning: “Illicit Narcotics Destroy Health and Guarantees Imprisonment. Say No to Drugs.” The move marks a change from the earlier certification guidelines, which required the CBFC to ensure that scenes tending to “encourage, justify or glamourise drug addiction” were not shown, but did not prescribe such a specific on-screen warning. Last month, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry asked OTT platforms and private satellite channels to prominently display the same warning during scenes depicting consumption or use of narcotic drugs.