The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023: An Analytical Commentary On Anti-Piracy And Certification Reforms
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Nitant M. Patole, Amandeep Gupta & Gauri Nandan Upadhyay, BA LLB, KES Shri Jayantilal H. Patel Law College, Mumbai
ABSTRACT
The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023 has been a major milestone in India's efforts to fight digital piracy as well as update the content certification system. While the 1952 Act primarily concentrated on censorship of movies, the new 2023 Act focuses on digital piracy through unauthorized recordings and transmissions as well as provides information on age groups that would help parents make informed decisions regarding their children, so that different genres of content could be provided to people including those who want to enjoy movies with a huge potential audience.
This legislative comment tries to gauge the effectiveness of the new law and system as a result of the March 2026 government crackdown on digital piracy which caused blocking of nearly 3,142 unauthorized Telegram channels and 800 piracy websites. It is also discussed by the author how the institutional approach introduced through Nodal Officers has proved to be more efficient than the old system of providing remedy to the copyright owners.
Besides that, this article examines the transformation of power dynamics from a state-led censorship approach to a parent centric one as shown through the splitting up of "UA" into UA 7+, UA 13+, and UA 16+. The parents can easily make their decision without any assistance from the government now. Moreover, it also discusses the impact of the 5% fine on the producers and analyses it by way of a case study of the leak of the movie 'Jana Nayagan' in April 2026.
Keywords: Cinematograph (Amendment) Act 2023, Section 6AA, Digital Piracy, Nodal Officers, March 2026 Crackdown, UA 16+, Jana Nayagan Case Study, Intermediary Liability, The K.M. Shankarappa Mandate.
