--- title: India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in 'Spectre' description: India has had a long history with how much intimacy can be shown on screen. canonical: https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-19T21:18:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:47:26.976Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in 'Spectre' og:description: India has had a long history with how much intimacy can be shown on screen og:url: https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99029c54d6bffe54/69887206524fc083dfdf592e/spectre-b24_06424_jo_r_rgb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Daniel Craig;Monica Bellucci og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in 'Spectre' twitter:description: India has had a long history with how much intimacy can be shown on screen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99029c54d6bffe54/69887206524fc083dfdf592e/spectre-b24_06424_jo_r_rgb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in _Spectre_ by [Shirley Li / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Shirley Li / Entertainment Weekly Nov 19, 2015 9:18 PM CUT  Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig in Spectre. Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig in Spectre.Jonathan Olley—Columbia Pictures by [Shirley Li / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Shirley Li / Entertainment Weekly Nov 19, 2015 9:18 PM CUT India’s Central Board of Film Certification has ordered _Spectre_’s smooches between Daniel Craig and his co-stars, Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux, to be trimmed by 50 percent. Though Pahlaj Nihalani, the current chairperson of the CBFC backed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, began enforcing a more demure policy this year [after his appointment](http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/pahlaj-nihalani-appointed-new-censor-board-chairperson/ "undefined"), India has had a long history with how much intimacy can be shown on screen. Censorship and conservative attitudes in the late 1940s and ’50s kept films chaste, until filmmakers grew bolder beginning in the ’70s. Sex sold in the ’90s, but erotic scenes remained controversial. And today, Nihalani’s call to censor 007’s kisses has led to a wave of backlash on social media, including these tweets from filmmaker and fellow CBFC board member Ashoke Pandit: > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666974989292294146) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666976243917697029) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666976567676035077) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666977602809237506) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666980239826898944) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666982252186857472) > [](https://twitter.com/ashokepandit/status/666982721160413184) Pandit called out Nihalani’s own filmmaking history — [films produced by Nihalani early in his career included raunchy material](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Pahlaj-Nihalani-had-given-Govinda-Chunky-first-breaks/articleshow/45947449.cms "undefined") — as evidence of the chairperson’s hypocrisy in the _Spectre_ censorship. Elsewhere on Twitter, Indian cinema fans have been tweeting using [the hashtag #SanskariJamesBond](https://twitter.com/hashtag/SanskariJamesBond?src=hash "undefined"), poking fun at what it would be like [if Bond had been born of Indian descent ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34865129 "undefined")(“Sanskari” is Hindi for “virtuous”). _Spectre_ opens in India on Nov. 20. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/19/spectre-kisses-censored-india "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/"},"headline":"India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in Spectre","datePublished":"2015-11-19T21:18:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:47:26.976Z","description":"India has had a long history with how much intimacy can be shown on screen","url":"https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/","keywords":["movies","India","James Bond","Spectre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99029c54d6bffe54/69887206524fc083dfdf592e/spectre-b24_06424_jo_r_rgb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shirley Li / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99029c54d6bffe54/69887206524fc083dfdf592e/spectre-b24_06424_jo_r_rgb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Daniel Craig;Monica Bellucci","caption":"Daniel Craig;Monica Bellucci","creditText":"Jonathan Olley—Columbia Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4121090/india-censors-james-bonds-kissing-scenes-in-spectre/","name":"India Censors James Bond's Kissing Scenes in Spectre"}}]}] ```