CBFC

Thats the Central Board of Film Certification in India. More commonly known as the censor board. This is the equivalent of the Motion Pictures Association of America in the US. The function of these entities is to certify films, as the name suggests, to educate audiences about the kind of content they are about to watch ie provide enough information to the individual so s/he can decide whether or not s/he will be comfortable watching it (and for parents to regulate what their kids watch). The CBFC, however chooses to play mom for everyone in India, and indulges in censorship instead of certfication, hence fondly known as the censor board. If you visit the CBFC website you will see that they list censorship as their main function. So the name really is a misnomer. And this kind of censorship is actually part of the constitution. There seems to be some form of debate now as to the function of CBFC, which I believe is mostly falling on the deaf ears of the Indian Govt. Here is an article that explores this issue for films with sex/erotica etc. which I think applies to other censored material too. The process of certification itself has become a bit more liberal in recent years. Films which would have defintely got an "A" rating from the CBFC now get the "U/A" rating. Unfortunately, instead of using this to explore new content film makers are using it for gratuitous skin show in the same old "formula" movies. Its probably a little early to tell though. Maybe things are changing slowly.