Fans SLAM censorship of 33-second kissing scene in James Gunn’s Superman: ‘They don’t have a problem with Housefull 5’ |
James Gunn’s Superman may be soaring at the global box office, but in India, it has landed straight into controversy. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has come under fire for censoring a 33-second kissing scene between Superman and Lois Lane, sparking widespread backlash online. From fans to celebrities like Shreya Dhanwanthary, many are calling out the CBFC’s “sanskaari standards,” especially when compared to what’s allowed in mainstream Bollywood films. The censorship of kissing scenes in Superman comes just days after the CBFC faced criticism for altering a middle finger emoji to a fist emoji in the Brad Pitt-starrer F1. The back-to-back edits have reignited debates over the board’s inconsistent and often puzzling standards.News of the kissing scenes being censored in Superman left fans deeply disappointed. Many took to social media to vent their frustration, slamming the CBFC for the unnecessary cuts and expressing their discontent over what they called outdated and inconsistent censorship practices.Actor Shreya Dhanwanthary took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express her anger, writing, “If this is true, this is RIDICULOUS!!! Some ridiculous crap happens every day. Every. Damn. Day. Sure this is the least of our worries but is something done about anything else? There is some crap every day. Every. Damn. Day.”While one user wrote, ‘Even Superman cannot defeat this Sanskari CBFC’, another one added, ‘It was just a kiss. It’s not like they were ripping each other’s clothes off. CBFC is an utter joke. I saw F1 last week and they censored the middle finger’. A user also commented, ‘They don’t have problem with Housefull 5 scenes but they problem with these’.Another user added, ‘Now watching #Superman and boy howdy the Indian censor board has embarassed itself with the abrupt cuts they’ve made to the film. The “morality” of censorship aside, the way they’ve managed to mangle the flow is atrocious. Awful editing job all around by the CBFC’.One wrote, “So, Superman is NOT allowed to kiss Lois Lane on Indian screens. But all sleazy leading men of Indian films are allowed to pull, grope, assault, stalk, slap, and do whatever they want with their heroines. Are you serious, Indian Censor board?”Another questioned, “I mean, the censor board kept horny and blood thirsty scenes from #Animal, #Marco and so on and they removed this shit? Like, are they for real? #Superman scene is just plain and mid, TBH.”Superman features David Corenswet in the titular role, joined by Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced. As the first film in James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe, it has opened to a positive response and is performing well at the box office.
