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To make films accessible for visually and hearing impaired, I&B Ministry mandates that movies be submitted to CBFC with subtitles and audio description from Sep 15

In January, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) floated a draft of accessibility guidelines that aims to make cinemas more accessible to the visually and hearing impaired. Now, as one of the first steps towards its implementation, the I&B Ministry and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have issued a directive that all films will have to be submitted to the CBFC with accessibility features for persons with hearing and visual impairments. From September 15, the body will not accept applications that don’t fulfil these criteria.   

Abhay Sinha, President, Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA), says the directive was shared with the body in the first week of August when the CBFC held a meeting with Sushma Shiromanee, Vice-president, IMPPA. The mandate applies to Indian as well as Hollywood offerings. Sinha states, “It was a sudden decision, but a welcome one as this means the visually and hearing impaired can also enjoy movies at theatres. We informed all our members through a letter on August 10. It has become compulsory to submit all films for certification with accessibility features like subtitles, audio file and audio description.” 

Per the implementation schedule, all feature films, which are to be certified in more than one language, would be required to provide at least one accessibility feature each for the hearing impaired and visually impaired from mid-September. Feature films submitted for the National Film Awards, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and other film festivals organised by the I&B Ministry must include closed captions and audio description with effect from January 1, 2025. 

While the rule doesn’t apply to releases before September 15, Sinha reveals that the IMPPA has requested the CBFC to make exceptions in the case of certain regional movies. “We have requested that regional movies [Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Bhojpuri] be exempted from this directive as the cost of production becomes high for them. We haven’t included south movies in our request.”

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