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.”