‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Blocked by Indian Film Censors
If you live in India and are eagerly awaiting the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you may be waiting a while. Censors in the country have called for the removal of “explicit” scenes from the film, which stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.
One Indian censor official has asserted that certain scenes in the film “should be blurred” before the David Fincher-directed film is released there. JP Singh, an official at India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), harrumphed:
“Bare bottom and bare-breast scenes are not allowed in India. We objected to several scenes in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and wanted them to be blurred.”
Sony Pictures is not playing ball, however – the Indian arm of the studio has said it won’t compromise on the film’s content.
The flick is based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling thriller, and has so far raked in $185 million worldwide. Its banning in India, where Hollywood still plays a distant second to Bollywood, is unlikely to dent its box office performance too much. That could explain why Sony is happy to stand firm.
A statement from the movie powerhouse said the decision of the censors would be respected, but did not allude to the film being altered:
“[Censors have] adjudged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form. While we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board.”
Unless one side backs down – a highly unlikely situation, it would seem – the film will remain unreleased in the world’s second most populated country.
