Fridae

The Indian film censor board has taken objection to the word lesbian in a Bollywood film and has ruled that it be muted from the movie.

The word lesbian occurs only once in the 2015 Hindi language romantic comedy ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ (English: Give In All Your Energy) when lead character is consoled by a lawyer at court when this word was used.

A picture of the censor board certificate doing the rounds on internet shows the board had muted the word 'lesbian' from the film. The certificate is signed by board's head Pahlaj Nihlani.

The film was released in India on February 27 with the word muted.

India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reconstituted this year under the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already issued a list of 28 cuss words it deems objectionable and which cannot feature in movies.

It has also blocked the release of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey based on a best-selling erotic novel even though Universal Pictures studio reportedly agreed to cut all nudity from the film and clip sexually explicit scenes.

“We are not sure what was the reason behind asking to mute the word 'lesbian' from the film. Are the board members living a life of ignorance and want us also to do so or they think this word will mislead some young minds when in reality they are the ones who are clearly missing the right direction,” writes the India Today magazine.

“The board has once again showed its regressive approach and proved that may be the members of the board are living in another century,” it said. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar writing for the Business Standard magazine points out that “The CBFC's job is to 'certify' films as fit for viewing by the audience.

It is not a censor board or the guardian of India's morality… Sure, there are good films and bad films but let the audience decide that.”

The film certification board's policy is in keeping with the Indian federal government’s prudish stance on sexuality and definer of Indian culture as espoused by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The government headed by this party thinks same-sex relations is “unnatural” and are in favour of keeping the more than 150-year-old anti-gay Section 377 law that criminalizes such relations with harsh prison sentences.