About CBFC Watch
CBFC Watch is an independent research project dedicated to exploring film censorship actions in India. It is the first public, searchable database of censorship information for nearly 18,000 films released between 2017 and 2025.
The project was created to make this data available as a resource for filmmakers, journalists, researchers, and the public. Initially intended as a live tracker, the project now exists as a historical archive due to changes in how the Censor Board publishes information.
#CBFCWatch was originally used by Aroon Deep (journalist at The Hindu) for his work sharing film censorship
information on social media. We are grateful for his permission to use the name.
Methodology
Python scripts were used to fetch film censorship details from the ECinePramaan portal. Raw modification logs were cleaned and structured using the Google Gemini Flash Large Language Model (LLM). This structured censorship data was then joined with IMDb listings to add contextual information including film cast, crew, and posters. The accuracy of the IMDb join varies as it relies on automated name matching between the IMDb film name and the CBFC film name. The explorer is built with SvelteKit and hosted on Cloudflare Pages, with data stored in Cloudflare D1. Search is powered by a self-hosted Typesense instance with semantic search enabled. Data visualizations are rendered using Svelteplot. Code is available under the MIT license. Data is available under the ODbL License.
Claude AI was used for assistance developing certain components of this explorer.
Credits and Attribution
Designed and Developed by
Illustrations
Designed and Developed by
Illustrations
In the News
Changelog
September 16, 2025
Data was updated on Tuesday 16th September, 3:00 PM to correct for a data preprocessing error, which erroneously filtered out some data from being including in the summaries. The correction is viewable here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of this project?
To create a comprehensive, publicly accessible dataset of film censorship actions by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India, to enable research and analysis.
Why is this data not regularly updated?
The automated data collection process was disrupted by technical changes in how the Censor Board publish information on the official ECinePramaan portal. The project now functions as an archive of films from before the technical change (mid-2025) and films contributed by users.
How can I contribute to the project?
Volunteers are welcome to help expand the dataset. If you are interested in contributing, please check the contribute page. You can also reach out at hello@diagramchasing.fun