Kareena Kapoor Khan's Daayra picked up an 'A' certificate from the CBFC on September 11, making it her tenth film to land an adults-only rating in a career that stretches back to 2001. The Meghna Gulzar-directed thriller, co-starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, runs 2 hours 23 minutes and 16 seconds as per the censor certificate, and reaches theatres on September 18.

That same day, the CBFC cleared Kunal Kemmu's Vibe with the identical rating, a decision that's raised more eyebrows than Daayra's ever will.

Vibe, which Kemmu also directs, stars Preity G Zinta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Vanshika Dhir, Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua and Yashpal Sharma. Its certificate puts the runtime at 2 hours 25 minutes and 55 seconds. On paper it's a comic caper, the kind of film that usually lands a U/A and pulls families in on a Friday night. So the adult tag has left trade watchers puzzled.

An industry insider quoted by Bollywood Hungama put it plainly. Daayra's rating makes sense given its subject matter, "suitable for adult and mature audiences," the insider said, but Vibe "looks like a fun entertainer that can be enjoyed by adults as well as kids and teens." The comparison drawn was to Kemmu's last directorial outing, Madgaon Express, which released in 2024 with a U/A certificate. Vibe going the other way, the insider added, "will come as a surprise for many."

For Kareena, an 'A' rating is well-worn territory. Ajnabee, Chameli, Dev, Omkara, Kurbaan, Heroine, Udta Punjab, Veere Di Wedding and The Buckingham Murders all got there before Daayra, spanning nearly a quarter century of choosing scripts that don't play it safe. Ten adult certificates in that time frame is a fairly specific kind of consistency.

Vibe is Preity Zinta's second film since her comeback, following Batwara 1947 last month, which also carried an 'A' rating. Two adult-rated films back to back for an actor returning to the screen after years away is its own small footnote.

And 2026, going by the certification record alone, has quietly turned into the year Hindi cinema stopped chasing the U/A crowd. Dhurandhar The Revenge, Mirzapur, Cocktail 2, Batwara 1947, O'Romeo, Assi and Bandar have all carried the same tag this year. Daayra and Vibe simply add two more names to a list that keeps growing.

What's left now is the box office test. Two adult-rated films opening on the same Friday, one an investigative thriller riding on Kareena and Prithviraj, the other a comedy hoping the certificate doesn't scare off the audience it was actually built for. September 18 will settle that argument.