Its not only British audiences that are viewing a censored version of the new James Bond film Spectre, but Indian audiences will also suffer an incomplete version.
Censors at the Central Board of Film Classification have given the film a UA (children allowed if accompanied by adults) rating after 4 cuts for language and kissing:
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Two cuts were made to shorten James Bond's kissing
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Two cuts were made to remove the words 'fuck' and 'arsehole'. (This seems to be a false accusation as the word 'fuck' doesn't actually get used in the film).
A source said:
Both of Daniel Craig's kisses with his co-stars have been reduced by 50 per cent. The censor board had nothing against James Bond kissing ...BUT... the length of the kisses were found to be unnecessarily excessive. We heard that Ranbir
Kapoor's kissing scenes in Tamasha has also been reduced by half. We wonder how the Censor Board decides how much kissing is enough.
Update: Chief censor seems to act like a megalomaniac Bond villain
20th November 2015. See article from
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Dissent against Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani appears to be gathering strength with some members planning to make a formal representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I&B minister Arun Jaitley. Members of the Central Board of Film
Certification (CBFC) have expressed concern at Nihalani's unilateral decision making style and cavalier attitude.
Board members said that cuss words were still being arbitrarily snipped from films (despite the Board's opposition) and decisions being made on films without taking the Board in to confidence. One member explained:
There are a few of us who feel that the chairperson has been working on his own accord without listening to anyone on the Board. This is unfair. We are planning to approach the PM and the I&B minister on the issue.
Nihalani has faced social media derision after the Board ruled kissing scenes of Daniel Craig with Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux in the new James Bond release Spectre as too extensive and had them trimmed by half.
Former I&B secretary and Board member Raghu Menon in a recent letter to fellow members said that he was disturbed at being treated in a cavalier and offhand fashion by Nihalani and the utter insensitivity and disregard of the
I&B ministry. He said:
I have closely observed and have been involved in the working of the CBFC for the last 20 years in various capacities when it was headed by luminaries like Shakti Samanta, Vijay Anand, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, Leela Samson etc, but never have I seen
it sink to such levels of total disregard for the Board Members. It would be better to disband the Board if it is found to be so irrelevant.
Update: Skyfall too
22nd November 2015. See article from dnaindia.com
Chief Pahlaj Nihalani has been justifying his disgraceful Spectre cuts to Indian tabloids. He said that steamy scenes were also cut from the previous Bond movie Skyfall , but people made no fuss about it. So why is it an issue if the Board
cut down the duration of kissing scenes in Spectre by 20 seconds, he asks.
Update: A better informed source
24th November 2015. See article from movie-censorship.com
A better informed source reveals that the Indian film censor's dialogue cuts to Spectre were:
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'idiot' instead of 'asshole'
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'bighead and cats' instead of 'bastard and balls'.
The Daily Mail leads:
