Integrity of India's borders non-negotiable: CBFC chief on Kashmir references in Mission: Impossible

Censor board chief Prasoon Joshi said today the "Kashmir" references from Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" were asked to be removed as the integrity of India's borders is "non-negotiable".

He said the map shown in the film "misrepresents the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir".

"The CBFC has advised the applicant of the film 'Mission: Impossible 6' that the map shown in the film misrepresents the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir and should be either rectified or removed. They had also referred to Kashmir as 'India-controlled Kashmir' which we have asked them to correct as the 'Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir'.

"Integrity of our country's borders are non-negotiable and cannot be compromised on for the sake of entertainment," Joshi told PTI.

The Christopher McQuarrie-directed movie released in India on July 27 and had four cuts/modifications made by the CBFC.

According to the CBFC certificate, the board had asked the makers to cut the title before the climax that identified the place "India-controlled Kashmir" and a map of the Indian subcontinent was also removed.

The makers were also asked to add a disclaimer of fiction that "the film neither intends to hurt the feelings/sentiments nor means to defame persons of any region, community, nationality, religion or organisation".

The mentions of the Nubra Valley and the Siachen glacier in Ladakh by Rebecca Fergusson's Ilsa Faust, however, have not been deleted.

The final sequence, set in Kashmir, was shot in picturesque locations of New Zealand.

"I had wanted to shoot in India. I went and scouted there extensively... It was a pretty crazy sequence. So while we were shooting in New Zealand, we still had this (feel)... We liked the flavour of India, so (somehow) we managed to put it in (the film)," McQuarrie had told PTI during a promotional event in Paris.

"Mission: Impossible Fallout" is the sixth installment in the action franchise. Till now, the film has minted Rs 56.1 crore in India, making it the biggest opening day and opening weekend for a Cruise film in the country.