In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (37 of 1952) read with rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, the Central Government has appointed Sh. Prasoon Joshi as 28th Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in an honorary capacity from 11th August, 2017 for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Prasoon Joshi is the CEO of McCann World group India and Chairman (Asia Pacific). He replaced Pahlaj Nihalani as CBFC chairperson.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) (often referred to as the Censor Board) is a statutory censorship and classification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
It is tasked with “regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952”. Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after they are certified by the Board, including films shown on television.
Other members of the Censor Board will be Vidya Balan, Gautami Tadimalla, Narendra Kohli, Naresh Chandra, Neil Herbert, Vivek Agnihotri, TS Nagabharana, Ramesh Patange, Vani Tripathi, Jeevitha Rajasekhar and Mihir Bhuta.
Prasoon Joshi was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2015. He has written lyrics for songs in Bollywood films such as Lajja, Fanaa, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Black and Delhi 6 etc.
The Board consist of 25 other non-official members and a Chairperson (all of whom are appointed by Central Government).
The Board functions with its headquarters at Mumbai. It has nine Regional offices each at:
Bangalore
Chennai
Cuttack
Guwahati
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Mumbai
New Delhi
Thiruvananthapuram
The Regional Offices are assisted in the examination of films by Advisory Panels.
Full List of Chairpersons of CBFC:
| No. | Name | From | To |
| 1 | C S Aggarwal | 15 January 1951 | 14 June 1954 |
| 2 | B D Mirchandani | 15 June 1954 | 9 June 1955 |
| 3 | M D Bhatt | 10 June 1955 | 21 November 1959 |
| 4 | D L Kothari | 22 November 1959 | 24 March 1960 |
| 5 | B D Mirchandani | 25 March 1960 | 1 November 1960 |
| 6 | D L Kothari | 2 November 1960 | 22 April 1965 |
| 7 | B P Bhatt | 23 April 1965 | 22 April 1968 |
| 8 | R P Nayak | 31 April 1968 | 15 November 1969 |
| 9 | M V Desai | 12 December 1969 | 19 October 1970 |
| 10 | R Srinivasan | 20 October 1970 | 15 November 1971 |
| 11 | Virendra Vyas | 11 February 1972 | 30 June 1976 |
| 12 | K L Khandpur | 1 July 1976 | 31 January 1981 |
| 13 | Hrishikesh Mukherjee | 1 February 1981 | 10 August 1982 |
| 14 | Aparna Mohile | 11 August 1982 | 14 March 1983 |
| 15 | Sharad Upasani | 15 March 1983 | 9 May 1983 |
| 16 | Surresh Mathur | 10 May 1983 | 7 July 1983 |
| 17 | Vikram Singh | 8 July 1983 | 19 February 1989 |
| 18 | Moreshwar Vanmali | 20 February 1989 | 25 April 1990 |
| 19 | B P Singhal | 25 April 1990 | 1 April 1991 |
| 20 | Shakti Samanta | 1 April 1991 | 25 June 1998 |
| 21 | Asha Parekh | 25 June 1998 | 25 September 2001 |
| 22 | Vijay Anand | 26 September 2001 | 19 July 2002 |
| 23 | Arvind Trivedi | 20 July 2002 | 16 October 2003 |
| 24 | Anupam Kher | 16 October 2003 | 13 October 2004 |
| 25 | Sharmila Tagore | 13 October 2004 | 31 March 2011 |
| 26 | Leela Samson | 1 April 2011 | 16 January 2015 |
| 27 | Pahlaj Nihalani | 19 January 2015 | 11 August 2017 |
| 28 | Prasoon Joshi | 12 August 2017 | Present |
Certificates by Censor Board:
Films are certified under 4 categories. Initially, there were only two categories of certificates – “U” (unrestricted public exhibition) and “A” (restricted to adult audiences). Two more categories were added in June 1983 – “U/A” (unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of twelve) and “S” (restricted to specialized audiences such as doctors or scientists). In addition to these certifications the board may also refuse to certify.
U (Unrestricted Public Exhibition):
Films with the U certification are fit for unrestricted public exhibition, and are family friendly. These films can contain universal themes like education, family, drama, romance, sci-fi, action etc. Now, these films can also contain some mild violence, but it should not be prolonged. It may also contain very mild sexual scenes (without any traces of nudity or sexual detail).
U/A (Parental Guidance for children below the age of 12 years):
Films with the U/A certification can contain moderate adult themes, that are not strong in nature and can be watched by a child under parental guidance. These films can contain some strong violence, moderate sex (without any traces of nudity or sexual detail), frightening scenes and muted abusive and filthy language.
A (Restricted to adults):
Films with the A certification are available for public exhibition, but with restriction to adults. These films can contain heavily strong violence, strong sex (but full frontal and rear nudity is not allowed usually), strong abusive language (but words which insults or degrades women are not allowed), and even some controversial and adult themes considered unsuitable for young viewers. Such films are often recertified for TV and video viewing, which doesn’t happen in case of U and U/A certified movies.
S (Restricted to any special class of persons):
Films with S certification should not be viewed by the public. Only people associated with it (Engineers, Doctors, Scientists, etc.), have permission to watch those films.
Additionally, V/U, V/UA, V/A are used for video releases with U, U/A and A carrying the same meaning as above.