INTRODUCTION-

Cinematographic y is a form of art where a picture in motion is captured and photographed using various techniques of camera handling etc. Some common examples of Cinematographic ic artwork are the everyday movies, films, short documentaries, ad films etc. Cinematographic y is a very popular form of virtualizing the art of story telling and has become a very important aspect of our everyday life. The cinema plays a very important role is portraying ideas and positively influencing the mind of people. But no doubt, the Cinematographic y craft can have some negative implications. The portraying of certain idea or kind of behavior or acts which may be not play an appropriate role in a particular culture.

England was the first country to pass a specific law vis-a-visfilms called the Cinematographic Act 1909. In India, the first attempt to regulate Cinematographic films was made in the form of Cinematographic Act 1918 after the first motion picture ‘Raja Harishchandra’ was successfully made.

India is a country known for its diverse culture therefore a law to respect the sensitivity of all cultures and to make sure that the art form of Cinematographic y was used in a positive manner, there was a need to develop a law in this regard. Further a well-defined and coherent law was needed to regulate the production and exhibition of Cinematographic films.

The Cinematographic Act 1952 was enacted on 21 march, 1952 and it was enforced on 28 July 1952. It is a very important legislation which came with two objectives –regulate the exhibition of Cinematographic films in public areas such as cinema halls etc. and to examine the material of the Cinematographic films to be exhibited before the public (censorship). 

The Film before being exhibited in public domain are to receive a certificate of exhibition under this act. The act has a pan India relevance.

The Constitution of India also provides for the regulation the Cinematographic film to be exhibited before the public. Schedule 7 entry 60 of the Union list talks about ‘Sanctioning of Cinematographic films for exhibition’ therefore, providing the Union with the power to make arrangements for the sanctioning of films whichever is certified under the statutes. Furthermore, Entry 33 of the State list endorsed the power of the state in regard to this matter. It states ‘Theaters and dramatic performances; cinemas subject to the provisions of entry 60 of List 1; sports, entertainments and amusements.’ It extends the powers of state to make laws not only for the films but also covers the area where such films or dramatic performances are to be displayed to the public.

One of the most striking features of the act is the creation of a Censor board under section 3 of the act. It states for the creation of a board consisting of chairman and members (between 12-25) who are to be appointed by the central government. The purpose of the board is check the function of sanctioning the films for the public viewing. The Act lays down the procedure of how the films are to be examined before the certification is granted. 

An application is to be made to the board in a proper prescribed format who upon reviewing and examining the film will grant the sanction in the category- ‘for unrestricted public exhibition’, ‘exhibition which is restricted to adults’, ‘exhibition to be restricted to a certain class of people’. The Board can also make all necessary modification which they deemed fit and they also have the power to refuse granting sanction to any movie for public exhibition. After the process of examination, the appropriate certificate is granted which is published in the Gazette of India and remains valid for a period of 10 years.

Apart from this function, the act also lays down important provisions regarding setting up of advisory panels at regional center, constitution of an appellate tribunal and also lays down principles and guidelines to be considered while certifying the films among other important provisions. The board is to keep in view the public interest, sovereignty and integrity of the country, morality, decency or any act which is likely to set off the commission of any offense etc. while undertaking the process of examining. 

The act also lays down a penalty under section 7 in case of the contravention of the Act. Any person who exhibits a film without a proper certification from the Central Broad of certification in any place will be liable for- 

The section 7A states that any such non certified film can be seized by any public officer. Upon entering the place where the film is or where he or she likely believes the film is kept, further he or she can search that place and take away the film.

  AMENDMENTS OF THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC ACT 1952-

With the development in the complexities and changing needs of the society, a dynamic to cater the same had to be developed. Keeping this in view, the Cinematographic law 1952 has under-grown a number of amendments from 1952 to 2010.

The following amendments took place over the span of fifty-eight years.

 With the functioning of the Cinematographic Act 1952, it was realized that the act suffered certain drawbacks with actual functioning of the act. Therefore, certain changes needed to be introduced in the form of the Cinematographic amendment act 1953.  The changes were inserted to make the penalty provisions stronger as it was witnessed that many films were displaying even those portions which are discarded under the censor board. In order to avoid such kind of tampering, more stringent laws were introduced. The revision powers of the government was also strengthened under this act.

One major change that was introduced under this amendment was an alteration in the Censorship rules 1951. The validity of the certificate of censorship was reduced to 5 years under the pretext that the value, trend, morals and beliefs of the society is inevitable to change, therefore to expect that a certificate which was granted in a particular period would hold validity in the future of changed values, trend and morals was not correct. Therefore, such continuance would be unreasonable and it began important to do away with this idea.  

In 1954, certain new directing principles were introduced regarding censorship. Another amendment bill regarding the Cinematographic act was introduced in 1956 with a view to provide additional power the government in sanctioning films which adhered to the improved standards keeping in view the interest of the nation. But this amendment was dismissed in 1957.

This amendment was done keeping in view, the needs that were felt while functioning under the 1952 act. Under this amendment, any major change was not introduced. Certain sections such as 3,4,5 and 6 were elaborated. These sections mostly dealt with the functions of the board. The most important change introduced in the amendment was principles which were made for guidance when certifying the films. These principles were in consonance with article 19(2) of the constitution. It laid down two provisions-

1-It provided certain grounds on which the board could reject or refuse to certify a film. It included grounds such as public order, relations with foreign states, morality, decency etc.

2- the second provision expressly granted the Central government the authority to sanction films for the exhibition in the public.

The dominance of the State control over the Cinematographic films and this medium of art was completely symbolized with this amendment. 1960 witnessed issuance of another set of guidelines regarding the censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Later, Khosla Committee was set up in 1968 to evaluate the position of censorship in India and make recommendations.

This amendment was mostly introduced to extend the applicability of the act to the then state of Jammu and Kashmir. The relevant provision under Part 1 and Part 2 of the act were proposed to be applicable on the State of Jammu and Kashmir.This amendment did not cover any aspect of censorship which had been a highlighted matter during that period.

Cinematographic (Amendment) Act, 1974 was introduced to incorporate the recommendations made by the Khosla Committee regarding censorship. Certain changes were introduced. However, this act was put aside due to official reasons. Another set of guidelines regarding censorship were introduced in 1978 which were framed in a sense that they would not go beyond the scope of article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution.

The bill was adopted with a more tolerant approach. The name of Board was replaced with ‘Central Broad of film Certification’, the members of the board were also increased from 9 to a criterion of not less than 12 and not more the 25.Some other changes which were introduced under this bill were:a new category of certificate namely ‘ UA’ was introduced where the exhibition was subject to caution for the parents and guardians of children below 12 years whether they wanted their child to watch such a film or not. The amendment also provided to set up an independent tribunal for hearing appeal and cases which arose from the decision of the Broad. The delegating power of the Board to the chairman was restricted regarding the certification of films. Further, it provided an immunity to the producer or the person allowing the exhibition of the film which has already received a valid certificate from being prosecuted under any other law for indecency or immorality etc.

The main aim behind this amendment was to make the laws stronger and the punishment for the violation tougher under Part two of the Act. With the growing popularity of the filming industry and the production of a large number of videos and films. The violation under Part 2 of the act were growing at an alarming rate. Exhibition of uncensored and non certified films, failure to removed the discarded part by the board, showing of Adult rated films to all kinds of audience (minors) and non-compliance with the provisions of the Central Board and the Cinematographic Act was in vogue. With the flow of Indian and foreign films without the approval of the board began to circulate the markets and a huge number of video galleries and parlors were coming up which charged a fee to the audience for the display of films. The introduction of cable television also increased the access of people to films. In order to curb the increasing misuse, the Cinematographic (Amendment) Act, 1984 was introduced which enhanced the punished given under section 7 of the act to imprisonment which may extend to 3 years or fine which may extend to 1 lakh or both and where the offence was of continuing nature, a fine of rupees twenty thousand per day. 

Certain new guidelines regarding scenes involving sexual offenses against women or any representation of women as indecent should be of such nature that they should not have an adverse and negative impact of the minds of viewers and they should be of the shortest span of time were added to the guideline as a resulting influence of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) 1986.

In 1991, guidelines regarding promoting a health environment and producing good quality films were incorporated.   

This bill was introduced as a step to ensure good quality and healthy cinema to all the viewers. Since there has been a drastic increase in films industry as well as the increase in the telecast of television programs which are broadcasted on more frequent intervals.  It was realized that with the increase in the number of channels and such kind of programs, there was no forum for scrutinizing the content, nature or theme of these programs. The board which already existed was restricted to the certification of films which were exhibited in cinema halls etc. but the constant exposure of the viewer to such telecast programs via TV sets, another medium could have a negative impact if it was not ensured that such programs were free from any exhibition of non- accepted behavior such as violence, commission of crimes etc. Therefore, this amendment led to the creation of a Board of Television Programs Certifications under part 2A. This Board was constituted with an aim to examine the Telecast programs and issues appropriate certifications for the same. The Board is to consist of a Chairperson and six other Members appointed by the central government. The board is to have a regional offices and union territories. 

The amendment was bought with an aim to recognize the copyright of the authors vis-à-vis Cinematographic y. It was viewed that act was made for the public exhibition of the films but there had a been a loss faced by the industry due to many radical changes introduced with time. With rapid increase in the number of telecast programs and the accessibility of television, emergence of new digital platform of viewing films shows of entertainment etc. It was realized that it led to a decrease in the number of visitors to the cinema hall caused a loss the cinema industry. Further the piracy and black marketing of the pirated version of films also added to the already suffering industry. Such act also cause loss to the government. Therefore, the act was introduced to curb the growing menace. The bill incorporates section 6AA which prohibits any person from using the audiovisual recording to make or attempt to make as copy of the film or of any part thereof without written permission from the author. The punishment for the violation of section 6AA is imprisonment with may extend to three years or fine which may extend to 1 lakh or both.

CONCLUSION–

From our analysis, it is clear that the film and Cinematographicindustry is gaining excessive popularity and is growing at a rapid pace. Every day, all kind of films across various genres with diverse nature, content and themes are making it to the public eyes. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that a positive scrutiny and check on such exhibition is kept in order to make the viewing more insightful and healthier. The Cinematographic Act 1952 becomes a landmark legislation is this area. There are few areas where the law needs to adapt and change with the changing times. For example, new medium of using Cinematography for expressing ideas, relaxation on the censorship rules etc. need to be worked on. The Court in the case of K.A. Abbas v. The Union of India (1970) observed that it is important to adopt a flexible approach in censorship. It further observed that the censor should take into consideration the artistic excellence portrayed when the film makers are presenting the theme of a particular film.