A family walks into a cinema hall. The lights go down, the popcorn is passed around and then the screen shows a woman confronting sexual violence, a student speaking about caste, a character taking drugs, or a family tearing itself apart behind closed doors. At what point does the story become too problematic to watch together?

The question is particularly relevant now, as the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has revised its film-certification guidelines for the first time since 1991. The new framework retains the requirement that films receiving unrestricted public exhibition should be “suitable for family viewing” — meaning all members of a family, including children, should be able to watch them together. At the same time, the guidelines retain the U/A age markers, allowing films to be classified U/A 7+, U/A 13+, or U/A 16+ depending on their content, with parental discretion for younger children. They also introduce a specific statutory warning for scenes depicting the consumption or trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.