Mumbai: If the Indian censors have their way, James Bond can make liberal use of his licence to kill. But he'll have to cut back on the kissing—by exactly half.
James Bond's on-screen exploits appear to be too much for the censor board which has decided to shorten Daniel Craig's kissing scenes in the upcoming 007 adventure Spectre, sparking sharp reactions on social media.
The movie, which has already released globally and is arriving in Indian theatres on Friday, received four cuts from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), whose chief Pahlaj Nihalani has received flak in the past for chopping off scenes in movies that he does not deem fit for the audience.
The kissing scenes between Craig, Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux were reduced and a few words were dropped from the movie.
"The film was given a U/A certificate after some cuts. One of the cuts was related to a kissing scene," a senior official said.
"The committee which was to certify the film thought some of the kissing scenes were too long," said a source familiar with the application to the censors, who asked Sony Pictures cut the kissing scenes by 50 per cent.
"The studio either had the choice to accept the cuts or apply for an A certificate, which significantly cuts down reach and exhibition."
Nihlani was soon trolled by the social media users as #SanskariJamesBond started trending on Twitter. Hilarious, most of the tweets were.
His ringtone is the Gayatri Mantra #SanskariJamesBond
— kaveri (@ikaveri) November 18, 2015Board member Ashoke Pandit, who has had differences with Nihlani, said the CBFC chief has always 'functioned on his own accord'.
"#Spectre is an internationally applauded film, bt again #PahalajNihalani messes it up by shading it with his own thought process. #JamesBond," Pandit tweeted.
Nihalani could not be reached for comment.
#SanskariJamesBond
Chikoo and milk. Shaken, not stirred.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) November 18, 2015Actor Emraan Hashmi, who has earned the tag of a serial-kisser in Bollywood, found the ban amusing.
So this guy James Bond calls up nervously ranting about something. Couldn't understand a word of what he was saying :))
— emraan hashmi (@emraanhashmi) November 18, 2015"James Bond's women must be feeling so safe now that our Censor Board is there to protect their izzat & aabroo from that creep," director Shirish Kuder tweeted.
The Twitteratti could not help but make fun of Bond's run in with the Indian censor board.
In #SanskariJamesBond movies, Bond girls will have names like Pooja & Aarti.
"What's Bond doing?"
"Pooja & Aarti"
"Oh!"
— Roflindian 2.0 (@Roflindian) November 18, 2015"Censor board cuts down the duration of kisses in Spectre. This is what happens when you release your film after Sooraj Barjatya," a user wrote while referring to Barjatya's clean family drama 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo'.
"Censor board will only pass the James Bond movie uncut, if it is directed by Sooraj Barjatya," another Twitter user wrote.
"Thanks to the censor board, Bond shall call M as 'Babuji' and Moneypenny as 'behen'," a tweet read.
Under Indian law, films with an A—or adult—certificate can't be shown on TV. India still accounts for a fraction of Hollywood's revenues, but franchises like James Bond and the Avengers can beat Bollywood's own productions at the box office.
50 Shades of Grey, the film based on E.L. James's erotic novel, was never released in India even after the studio cut every sex scene. The board rejected it on the basis that the language used in the film was inappropriate.
(With inputs from agencies)