We're going back to dark ages: Emraan Hashmi on film censorship

Actor Emraan Hashmi, who was once tagged as Bollywood's 'serial kisser', says censorship of films in India seems like it's "going to the dark ages".

"I feel that it's going back to the dark ages. We're not taking steps forward," Emraan said at the launch of a single "Main Rahoon Ya Na Rahoon", starring him and Esha Gupta.

"Our society is evolving, the kind of cinema we're exposed to these days...There are international films, Hollywood films on television... All that is progressing, but we're making sure that Bollywood regresses. I feel it's very detrimental for our industry.

"If you have a law for censorship, you should give an A-certificate to that kind of film (with any questionable content), but don't snip out things for the sake of snipping it out. I don't understand that logic," he added.

The "Murder" star responded to a question regarding the Central Board of Film Certification's decision to shorten a kissing scene in the James Bond film "Spectre".

Emraan said his much-anticipated biopic "Azhar" will also have kissing scenes, but he hopes it doesn't run into issues with the censor board.

"We'll get to know when my film eventually goes for censorship... there will obviously be a debate on it. But before that, numerous films are going to release. So hopefully, it (the policies) will be revised in the next couple of months and we get into some kind of a positive reform," he added.