No Hugh Jackman nude bum for Indian audiences

It’s final. Hugh Jackman’s nude-bum shot in X Men has been removed from the Indian release of the seventh installment of the franchise. Rakesh Kumar the CEO of the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) confirms that the shot has been removed. Reacting to the censorial intervention critic Raja Sen says, “It could have been worse. They could have cut out a Jennifer Lawrence shot! Ha ha. Seriously though, this childish censor board has become a sadistic body that enjoys playing spoilsport. This (Jackman’s bum-shot) might not be a major cut. But it is the principle of the thing.” Raja also wonders how bare butts have been allowed on screen in the past. “Why did the censor board allow us to see Rahul Bose’s ass in Dev Benegal’s Split Wide Open? That was quite a while back. But I am still in trauma,” Raja says sarcastically. He adds, “The censor board if it must exist needs consistent rules. And they should be rating movies –A, U, PG—instead of cutting them in any way at all.” Producer and media guru Pritish Nandy is more conservative in his criticism of the censor board. “It depends on what certification they were asking for. The shot can be removed if there is a ‘U’ certificate. But if the certification is ‘A’ that would be stupid. Indian adults are mature enough to see any film, barring those provoking caste or communal sentiment.” Actress-activist-columnist Pooja Bedi sees the Talibanization of sexual mores in Indian films as a sign of censorial hypocrisy. Says Pooja cynically, “Cinema is always blamed for the rising crime in our society. So perhaps the censors are afraid that Hugh’s bare butt will start a trend of men being raped....On a more serious note, are they insinuating that the Indian multiplex audiences, the kind of viewership that X Men gets, would be disturbed or unable to handle what the rest of the world would watch calmly as a normal part of the movie-viewing experience? This doesn’t speak very highly of their perception of Indian sensitivities.”