Not just 'Spectre' kissing scenes, others too faced Censor

Curtailing of kissing scenes in the latest James Bond film 'Spectre' by the Censor Board was "not new" and such cuts were also effected on many other English and Hindi movies before certification was awarded, official data shows.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has been facing criticism over curtailing of kissing scenes in 'Spectre'.
According to official sources in 2013 and 2014, there were around three dozen English and Hindi movies, which had to leave out scenes related to kissing, nudity or cuss words etc, before they could get certification.
"While there is much criticism over certification related to James Bond movie 'Spectre' but such cuts are not new as far as the working of the board goes," a source said.

The cuts related to the James Bond movie, which was provided U/A certificate, had led to controversy, with many calling CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani a 'sanskari' (cultured) Censor Board chief on social media platforms.
Officials said that even before Nihalani took over in January this year, many big ticket movies had to undergo the scissors of the Censor Board.

Giving details, an official said that in February, 2014, English movie 'Robocop' was cleared by the Censor Board but not before some kissing and nude scenes were deleted.
Similarly, visuals of kissing were deleted in 'Megamind' which was certified in January 2014, while in another English movie 'The Starving Games' some visuals and cuss words were deleted.

The official said that even in a Hindi movie like 'Murder 3', a kissing scene was reduced to a flash while some other scenes depicting intimacy were also reduced by 50 per cent.
Even in Kangana Ranaut starrer 'Queen', which was a big hit and won awards, certain "cuss" words were objected to by the Censor Board, and had to be dropped, the officials said. adding that many of the movies on the list were certified even before Nihalani took over.
Among the other films which, the sources said, had to undergo cuts ordered by the Censor Board were 'Ragini MMS 1' (certified in March 2014), 'Shringaar' (October 2013), Hercules 3D (July 2014) and 'Need for Speed' (March, 2014).

Many of the films which faced these cuts, were certified even before Nihalani took over, the official said.