Film fans in India were outraged to learn that a 33-second kiss scene in "Superman" was shortened to a just a few seconds by their country's censors. Despite the film's 13+ rating, India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) felt compelled to sanitize the embrace they described as "overly sensual."

When it was created through the Cinematograph Act of 1952, the CBFC's official mandate was to certify films according to age categories, but it has since become notorious for its role as a censor.

Recent examples of alterations in major Hollywood productions include replacing a middle-finger emoji appearing in "F1: The Movie" with a fist emoji.

Swear words were muted in Marvel's "Thunderbolts" and "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning."

In Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" (2023), the Indian board had Florence Pugh's nudity covered up with a digitally inserted CGI dress.

"If a scene is meant for mature audiences, it should simply be placed in the appropriate category," argued writer Disha Bijolia in Indian online magazine Homegrown. "Instead, the CBFC repeatedly interferes with a filmmaker's vision — cutting into plots, disrupting emotional arcs, and flattening the intent behind entire narratives."

Beyond bans: Alterations to satisfy demand

Along with the widespread censorship method of simply banning films, releasing alternate versions of movies is also well established in many countries beyond India.

Authoritarian states know that even if a film is banned, it can still circulate illegally, which motivates them to distribute their own "more appropriate" versions of the works.

Way before AI-created imagery became widely available, Iran had already equipped the country's censors with new digital technology by 2010, allowing them to tweak dialogues and images that didn't conform to Islamic modesty.

The approach is detailed in an 2012 article in The Atlantic, which also shows stills comparing how the original scenes were retouched in the Iranian versions: Women simply disappear from the frame, or their neckline is covered up with a clunky vase. Even Will Ferrell's crotch is hidden behind a wall in the motorsports comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" (2006).

Cutting out the private life of iconic gay stars

Homosexuality remains taboo in many countries.

Scenes referring to Freddie Mercury's homosexuality were removed in "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) in various countries, including Egypt. Human Rights Watch denounced Egypt's hypocrisy, as it loudly praised the Oscar win of lead actor Rami Malek, whose parents are Coptic Egyptians, without even allowing him to speak publicly about the film in the country.

In Russia, an estimated five minutes of footage were removed from the 2019 Elton John biopic, "Rocketman," primarily the scenes featuring kissing, sex and oral sex between men

But the state did not directly impose this censorship; the Russian distributor preventively cut the scenes to comply with a 2013 "anti-gay" law, which bans the promotion of LGBTQ+ culture.

Drugs not OK; a nude stripper, why not

Even though many major Hollywood studios no longer distribute their films in Russia since it launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in 2022, there are still some Western films appearing in the country's cinemas or on streaming platforms.

One recent example of a film that circulated in an altered version was the award-winning US film "Anora" (2024). Censors simply zoomed into various scenes to crop out the depictions of characters using drugs, as shown by independent Russian-language news site Meduza.

Meanwhile, the film's nude scenes featuring the stripper played by Mikey Madison were left untouched.

Blurring out cigarettes and alcohol in Turkey

A film like "Anora" would never air on Turkish television. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative AKP government, around 95% of the media landscape has been brought into line with their conservative guidelines.

Broadcasters mainly avoid sex scenes and portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters. Historical topics seen as promoting "anti-Turkish rhetoric" can be particularly contentious.

Cigarettes and alcohol are also blurred on TV, with some stations coming up with creative solutions to cover up the items.

Meanwhile, some Hollywood studios have released their own self-censored versions to circumvent bans and blurs.

Sony Pictures supplied an alternate version of "Blade Runner 2049" to Turkey and other non-Western markets, removing or cropping scenes showing nudity, as film critic Burak Göral first noted. Turkey's Film Critics Association (SİYAD) issued an open letter condemning the censorship, noting that the cuts were "an insult to moviegoers in Turkey."

Accessing China's restricted, lucrative market

China is renowned for banning and shortening films, too.

Official censorship guidelines prohibit, among other things, the "promotion of cults or superstition." The 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot thus failed to be released in the country despite being retitled "Super Power Dare Die Team." Surprisingly, Disney's "Coco," which centers on the Mexican Day of the Dead, was authorized a year later.

Major productions that have been altered by China's censors include the 2012 James Bond film, "Skyfall." A scene in which a Chinese security guard is killed was completely cut out because it suggested that China is unable to protect its own territory from foreign agents. In other "controversial" scenes, the subtitles differed from what was actually been said on screen.

In the famous portrait scene in James Cameron's "Titanic 3D" (2012), Kate Winslet was cropped up to her chin to hide her nudity. "Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch and thus interrupt other people's viewing," a Chinese official explained.

In 2022, social media users widely mocked the censors' alternate ending for "Minions: The Rise of Gru." In the original version, villains Gru and Wild Knuckles evade capture by authorities after the latter fakes his own death. But through a series of subtitled stills that were widely compared to a PowerPoint presentation for their poor quality, the Chinese version had Wild Knuckles arrested and imprisoned for 20 years; he starts a theater troupe in jail. Gru is portrayed as simply "returning to his family," with being a father becoming his "biggest accomplishment."

'Troubling compromises on free expression'

Hollywood studios have also been releasing their own alternate versions of movies in China to avoid state censorship — and the PowerPoint slides. 

The country began allowing a limited number of Hollywood films per year into the country in 1994, and as major studios increasingly competed to gain access to the restricted and lucrative slots, they also started tailoring their stories to please a Chinese market of some 1.4 billion people.

A 2020 report by nonprofit organisation PEN denounces the growing trend of producers willingly altering their films for Beijing's censors: Hollywood filmmakers "are making difficult and troubling compromises on free expression," it stated.

"Iron Man 3" (2013) is a prominent case highlighting this approach.

While altered films typically lose runtime, four minutes of extra content were added to the Marvel blockbuster, with exclusive scenes featuring Chinese star Fan Bingbing and actor Wang Xueqi, as well as scenes promoting a local milk brand. In the Chinese version, the beverage helps Iron Man/Tony Stark recover from an injury.

Edited by: Brenda Haas