Please meet the cleaned up, chaste², well behaved James Bond - trending in India as #SanskariJamesBond - an ironic³ hashtag prompted by a censor⁴ board decision to "cut short" Daniel Craig's kissing scenes in the movie Spectre, which releases in India on Thursday.

 

That's right. James Bond in his current avatar, simply kisses too much for the tastes of the Indian censor board, and so they have been reduced in length.

 

Ashoke Pandit, a member of the censor board confirmed that the kissing scenes had been cut, but insisted it was a decision taken in his "personal capacity" by India's controversial censor board head Pahlaj Nihalani.

 

"Yes, this decision [to cut kissing scenes] was taken by Pahlaj Nihalani. He does these kind of things. Other shots have also been cut along with the kissing scene. This seems like a joke. If you do this to a James Bond film, then it's shameful," he told BBC Hindi.

 

Mr Nihalani was appointed to the post in January, days after the previous head of the board Leela Samson resigned amid controversy⁵ over clearance⁶ to the film Messenger of God, citing "interference and coercion⁷".

 

Mr Nihalani refused to comment on the James Bond film and his decision to cut short scenes.

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