Suniel Shetty has joined the newly reconstituted Central Board of Film Certification, bringing a veteran film industry voice to a board that is once again under the spotlight over the perennial question of where certification ends and creative freedom begins. The Government reconstituted the CBFC on September 16 with an 18 member board for a three year term or until further orders. Shetty is among the prominent film personalities appointed alongside Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Joshi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Pallavi Joshi, Roopali Ganguly, Priyadarshan and others.
Speaking about the responsibility, Shetty has made it clear that he prefers to view the institution as a certification board rather than simply a censor board. He believes there has to be a balance between giving filmmakers the freedom to tell their stories and being responsible towards audiences and the nation. He has also identified clarity, consistency and dialogue as the areas he would like to contribute to, while calling for a process that is smoother, more transparent and collaborative.
That positioning is particularly relevant for an industry that has frequently debated the role of the CBFC in determining what audiences should be allowed to see and how much intervention is justified in the name of public responsibility. Shetty’s comments suggest that his approach will be centred less on the familiar “censor board” terminology and more on finding a workable balance between creative expression and the responsibility that comes with cinema’s influence.
The timing also gives his appointment added significance. The new CBFC is the first major reconstitution of the board since 2017, with the previous panel continuing beyond its original term until successors were appointed. The new board brings together actors, filmmakers, musicians, writers, producers and other cultural voices, indicating a broader industry representation within the certification mechanism.
For Shetty, who has spent more than three decades on the other side of the certification process as an actor, the new role offers a different vantage point. His first comments indicate that he sees the responsibility not simply as deciding what can or cannot be shown, but as helping create a certification process that can accommodate creative freedom while remaining conscious of cinema’s wider social impact.
How that philosophy translates into actual certification decisions will, however, be the more important test for the industry. For now, Shetty’s appointment and his emphasis on balance, dialogue and transparency place him among the new voices shaping the next phase of the CBFC.
