A still from Fifty Shades of Grey
Controversial film Fifty Shades Of Grey has been deemed unfit for India by the Central Board of Film Certification. The film's steamy scenes were not passed by the Board's Examining Committee who have asked for cuts. The edited version of the film will be shown again to the Revising Committee.
News agency Reuters reports that a Universal Pictures source familiar with the review process said the Board had objected to some of the film's dialogue, even after the studio made voluntary edits to the film to tone down its sex scenes and removed all nudity. Reuters also says that Shravan Kumar, the Board's chief executive, declined to comment on why the film was not approved but said that Universal could appeal the decision to the Reviewing Committee.
Fifty Shades Of Grey, the big screen adaptation of a best-selling erotic book series, was to release in India on Valentine's Day but did not because of no Censor Board clearance. The film has been banned in Malaysia, Indonesia and Kenya. It was recently allowed to release in Sri Lanka after prescribed cuts.
The film, which stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as a couple involved in a sadomasochistic relationship, is top of the box office in America and other countries.
The Censor Board has been particularly active over recent weeks, ordering cuss words be removed or replaced from films such as
Badlapur and
NH10. The word 'lesbian' was ordered muted and four Hindi abuses replaced in recently released film
Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Veteran actor Dharmendra's favourite screen term of abuse 'kuttey kaminey' has also reportedly been censored in new film
Badmashiyan.