Hulleye Comes By!

man, if you idiots got hijackers heading your way, keep them to yourself. why the heck you sending them our way?

more on the comic.

The rules are vague and their application inconsistent. But in most Indian films you won’t see French kissing, nudity of any kind, excessive drug use, or representations of Hindu-Muslim romance. Interclass romances are fair game. Modest kisses, like this one from the 1996 film Raja Hindustani, do turn up from time to time. Touchy political subjects (like religious or ethnic violence) are off limits, especially in films critical of the ruling party.

Though there is a rule against obscenity in the Indian Constitution, specific film restrictions originated with the Cinematograph Act of 1952 and were updated in 1983. (Indian cinema was somewhat more permissive before independence.) A high-court ruling in 1970 affirmed the role of the government as a censor of the film industry, but insisted that decisions on content be made in context: “It is not elements of rape, leprosy, sexual immorality which should attract the censor’s scissors but how the theme is handled by the producer.”

Efforts to reform the Cinematograph Act have been unsuccessful. In 2002, Vijay Anand quit his post as chairman of the censor board after failing in a bid to update the rules. Anand wanted to create a new rating—XA—for “soft pornographic” films. (Indian “soft porn” is far tamer than the American version and refers to scenes of implied nudity and sexual acts.)

Read the rest at slate.