• The market for Hollywood movies in Asia and India is on the rise.
• But films from the USA are facing rude and inappropriate censorship in India.
• The concerned authorities butcher the films and reduce them to a choppy and often incomprehensible matter.

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The distribution companies for these Hollywood movies in India have voiced their concern on this matter but to deaf ears.

Made in Hollywood, butchered in India

The audience for American movies has seen an exponential rise over the years. Though these movies, also have a huge market in China and, of course, in the USA, the box office revenue for Hollywood cinema in India is steadily growing.

But despite all this good news for American films, there are also a lot of headaches from tightening censorship which is many times irrational and unpredictable. The distribution companies for these films in India are concerned about their ill effects on the art form from the USA.

Some examples of Hollywood-made films butchered in India

PVR Pictures’ Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli has been very vocal about these restrictions from Indian censorship.

He exemplified:

“I remember we distributed Hereditary last year. It did really well in the US in terms of box office wise. It was one of our summer trumps, so to speak. But the censor completely butchered it. They suggested so many cuts that it almost became choppy and a very incomprehensive film. Critics didn’t like it. The audience didn’t like it either which ultimately affected the business of the film,”

The Indian Censorship Board imposes various cuts and mutes on these Hollywood films before their release in India. This severely affects the art form of Hollywood.

It was not even a month back when John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum which starred Keanu Reeves was released in India only after several mutes and significant cuts despite getting an ‘A’ certificate.

In 2018, the film producers of Jon M Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians decided against releasing the film in India. But after fans expressed their displeasure against this, Warner Bros decided to go for it.

But after passing through Indian Censorship, a pivotal scene in the movie as well as the word “bit**” was blurred out much to the disappointment of the viewers.

What Sanjeev Kumar Bijli feels?

Sanjeev does not mince words while talking about all these problems from the Censor Board in India. He reiterates:

“Censorship is still a bit abstract in India in terms of its guidelines as to what gets cleared and what doesn’t get cleared,”

Also, the Indian cinema releases a number of movies per week, and it becomes difficult to find a slot when Hollywood movies can be released in this country without much competition.

Sanjeev says:

“In India there are so many films that get released in a week. It’s a challenge to give the film right scheduling at right time and also give it the right marketing and the right platform and awareness,”

Source: News 18