For Their Eyes Only: India board censors Bond’s kissing By AFP

It’s the country that gave the world the Kama Sutra,
but India’s notoriously prudish film board has
ruled that long kissing scenes in the new James
Bond movie “Spectre” are not suitable for Indian
audiences.
The Mumbai-based Central Board of Film
Certification (CBFC) has reined in the fictional
British spy’s famously lusty romantic life by cutting
the length of two passionate embrace scenes, its
chairperson told AFP.
“We have reduced them,” CBFC head Pahlaj
Nihalani said, referring to separate kissing scenes
between Daniel Craig, who plays Bond, and his co-
stars Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux.
“Our work is for censoring the movie according to
the rating of the film so we have done that,”
Nihalani said of “Spectre”, which hits screens in
India on Friday.
Nihalani said the film had been given an
unrestricted adult rating, which means parental
guidance is required for children under 12 years
old.
A source at Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed
to AFP that the edits had been made.
“Two kissing scenes have been reduced by a few
seconds,” the source said, speaking on condition of
anonymity, adding that two swear words had also
been deleted.
Nihalani said the film’s promoters had the right to
object to the edits but had not done so.
India’s censors have a long history of barring
movies and cutting scenes, including those that are
deemed too racy or may cause religious offence,
with filmmakers accusing censors of intolerance.
Earlier this year the CBFC blocked the release of
“Fifty Shades of Grey” in India, despite being
shown a toned-down version of the erotic movie.
Dissenting CBFC board member Ashoke Pandit
earlier this year called Nihalani a “tyrant”, and on
Wednesday tweeted his displeasure at the edits
made to the new Bond film.
“Spectre is an internationally applauded film, (but)
again #PahlajNihalani messes it up by shading it
with his own thought process #JamesBond,” he
wrote.
The decision sparked a frenzy on social media, with
many Twitter users mocking the move.
“Censor Board is clear. Make in India? Good good.
Make out in India? NEVER,” tweeted Ramesh
Srivats, referring to Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s slogan to attract foreign
investment.
The hashtag #SanskariJamesBond, meaning
‘virtuous’ in Hindi, trended on Twitter with users
sharing Internet memes portraying a more demure
Agent 007, sometimes dressed in traditional Indian
attire.
A still from “Casino Royale”, in which Craig
emerges from the sea wearing tight blue speedos,
was doctored so that his torso was covered by an
orange ceremonial scarf.
Another showed Craig with an ash pattern on his
forehead, much like a Hindu holy man, while one
compared bikini-clad Bond girl Ursula Andress
with a “#SanskariJamesBond” girl in a sari.

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