Bollywood films with smoking scenes will no longer be automatically rated U/A. However, anti–tobacco spots and an audio–visual disclaimer at the beginning of the film and during the interval will have to be played during the screening of such films, according to an agreement reached between the ministries of Health and Information and Broadcasting.

Failure to comply with this will result in cancellation of licence of the cinema hall owner and the film’s producer.

The Health Ministry on Friday issued a fresh notification on this, in a move that is widely perceived as a result of efforts by Bollywood producers who had been lobbying hard for the certification rule to be withdrawn.

The new notification will supercede the earlier one issued on October 27, 2011 under which it was mandatory for any film with a smoking scene to be rated U/A. Producers had petitioned the I&B Ministry that this was unjustified and the tussle between the ministries has been going on for close to a year now on this issue.

As per the terms agreed upon by the two ministries, the health spots – to be funded by the Health Ministry – would have to be at least 30 seconds long and the disclaimer on the ill–effects of smoking would have to be minimum 20 seconds long.

There would also have to be strong editorial justification for the smoking scenes, during which, additionally, an anti–tobacco health warning in the form of a static message would have to be displayed. The spots and disclaimers will be provided to the Central Board of Film Certification in digital beta format for distribution to the filmmakers at the time of their application for certification.

A senior Health Ministry official said while the certification criterion has been revised, there would be efforts to implement the other rules stringently so that the "successes of the anti–tobacco initiatives are not frittered away".