The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which had been functioning from the Bharat Bhavan at the White House Complex on Walkeshwar Road since 1950s, now has a new address. The CBFC on Tuesday shifted its base to premises of the Films Division headquarters located on the upmarket Peddar Road in south Mumbai.
Veteran actor Ambitabh Bachchan inaugurated the CBFC’s new office in the presence of I & B Secretary Ajay Mittal and a host of film personalities. Among the film personalities present on the occasion were Anupam Kher, actor and former Chairperson of CBFC, Ramesh Sippy, Raveena Tandon, Sonu Sood, Pritish Nandy, Manmohan Shetty, Gajendra Chauhan, Kiran Shantaram and Mukesh Sharma. Faced with an acute space constraint, lack of parking facility for visitors and increased work load, the CBFC had mooted a proposal to the I & B Ministry for allocation of space in the Films Division Complex for a modern, digitally enabled office, a request the ministry accepted recently.
Mumbai, being the centre of the Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Punjabi film industry, accounts for nearly 60 per cent of all certification work of CBFC. During 2015-16, it certified over 11,000 films of various duration including 787 Indian feature films and 690 foreign films for theatrical release in India.
Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Venkaiah Naidu had launched online film certification system of CBFC, in New Delhi last week.
Speaking on the occasion, I & B Secretary Ajay Mittal said the Ministry had initiated a series of measures to promote ease of doing business and reiterated overnment's commitment to work closely with the film industry. Filmmaker Ramesh Sippy welcomed the online film certification system saying it would facilitate quicker certification of films.
The Civil Construction Wing of Prasar Bharati has refurbished the new CBFC office, which houses the chambers of the Chairman, CEO as well as the Mumbai Regional Office.Currently, it has its own preview facilities and can utilise additional preview theatres of films division as well to quicken the process of certification.