Films depicting consumption, use or trafficking of narcotic drugs will have to carry an anti-drug warning, with the Centre or the federal government making the requirement part of the guidelines governing certification of films for public exhibition.

According to a PTI report from New Delhi yesterday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting notified the amended guidelines on September 16 under the Cinematograph Act.

Under the revised guidelines, scenes depicting or involving the consumption, use or trafficking of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances will have to carry the warning: ‘Illicit Narcotics Destroy Health and Guarantees Imprisonment. Say No to Drugs’.

The move marks a change from the earlier certification guidelines, which required the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to ensure that scenes tending to “encourage, justify or glamorise drug addiction” were not shown, but did not prescribe such a specific on-screen warning.

Last month, the ministry asked OTT platforms to prominently display the same warning during scenes depicting consumption or use of narcotic drugs, the PTI report added.

A similar advisory was issued to private satellite television channels.

The film certification guidelines lay down the principles the CBFC must follow when examining films for public exhibition under the Cinematograph Act.

The guidelines were last amended in May 2025, when the government incorporated the three age-based parental guidance categories — U/A 7+, U/A 13+ and U/A 16+ — into them. 

The categories, introduced following amendments to the Cinematograph Act in 2023, advise parental guidance for children below seven, 13 and 16 years, respectively.

Among other things, they require the Board to ensure that anti-social activities such as violence are not glorified or justified, criminal methods likely to incite offences are not depicted and scenes encouraging, justifying or glamorising drug addiction are not shown.

The guidelines also address depictions of violence, cruelty, sexual content and matters that could affect public order, the security of the State or India’s relations with foreign countries.

On Wednesday (Sept. 16), the Centre reconstituted the CBFC, bringing actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi and Prosenjit Chatterjee, filmmaker Priyadarshan and Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej, among others, onto its new 18-member board headed by chairperson Shashi S. Vempati.