October 15, 2010

U, A and U/A....

All these years....and all these days...a silver screen obsessed person like me...didnt know this thing...i was checking out upcoming movies in the city pride today...just then i found a board with censor certificates of the three movies that were running in the theatre....was curious to see what they actually write in the certificates...in the theatre the censor certificate vanishes within a second...and we arent really in the mood to watch those certificates...are we?...

So...i checked it out...till then i was under impression that..the movies r categorised into two types...U & A
U means open to all...the word they use in the certificate is 'Unrestricted Public Exhibition...hence the letter U...
A means above 18 years of age...again the word used is 'Adults only'..and hence A
 
to my astonishment...there was this third category...U/A....i mean i remember watching U/A for a lot of films...but conveniently considered it as U films...but U/A actually means 'under adult supervision'...so not exactly a movie which is open to all....but at the same time...it is not the 'adult only' movie...The actual wording they use in the certificate....is....
 
'fit for public exhibition with an endorsement of caution that the question as to whether any child below the age of 12 years may be allowed to see the film should be considered by the parents or guardian of the child'...'
so it is neither U nor A...its somewhere in between...