Mumbai:
This poster of Jism 2, starring adult film actress and Bollywood debutante Sunny Leone, is among the many that have been removed from 75 BEST buses, 25 bus depots and all electricity poles in Mumbai.
The poster was deemed objectionable by Vidya Chavan, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator, who complained to the mayor of Mumbai, Sunil Prabhu, and the commissioner of the BMC, the city's municipal corporation.
The BMC commissioner, Sitaram Kunte, confirmed to NDTV that the film posters were removed after Ms Chavan wrote a letter of complaint.
Mayor Sunil Prabhu from the Shiv Sena told The Times Of India that he had asked for the posters to be removed after Ms Chavan complained. "We received a complaint from Chavan, who alleged that the posters were obscene. I have asked BEST general manager to remove such posters from BEST buses," he said.
BMC sources also told NDTV that there is no criteria as to what is objectionable, and that it is totally subjective.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Jism 2 director Pooja Bhatt's father, said to The Times Of India that "it was a battle not worth fighting". He further said, "Censoring images created by the human mind has been going on since the dark ages. In recent times, I remember Qurban's posters were pulled down by the moral police. I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same. Individual freedom has always been trampled upon under the name of larger good by the political class."
This is not the only controversy surrounding the racy poster. The makers of the film have also been accused of copying this poster for a 2010 fashion show in Goa by designer Felix Bendish:
And it also appears that the figure under the sheet of fabric on the poster for Jism 2 may not be Sunny Leone at all, but model-starlet Nathalia Kaur.
Jism 2, which releases this Friday, has been handed an A certificate by the Censor Board.
The poster was deemed objectionable by Vidya Chavan, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator, who complained to the mayor of Mumbai, Sunil Prabhu, and the commissioner of the BMC, the city's municipal corporation.
The BMC commissioner, Sitaram Kunte, confirmed to NDTV that the film posters were removed after Ms Chavan wrote a letter of complaint.
Mayor Sunil Prabhu from the Shiv Sena told The Times Of India that he had asked for the posters to be removed after Ms Chavan complained. "We received a complaint from Chavan, who alleged that the posters were obscene. I have asked BEST general manager to remove such posters from BEST buses," he said.
BMC sources also told NDTV that there is no criteria as to what is objectionable, and that it is totally subjective.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Jism 2 director Pooja Bhatt's father, said to The Times Of India that "it was a battle not worth fighting". He further said, "Censoring images created by the human mind has been going on since the dark ages. In recent times, I remember Qurban's posters were pulled down by the moral police. I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same. Individual freedom has always been trampled upon under the name of larger good by the political class."
This is not the only controversy surrounding the racy poster. The makers of the film have also been accused of copying this poster for a 2010 fashion show in Goa by designer Felix Bendish:
And it also appears that the figure under the sheet of fabric on the poster for Jism 2 may not be Sunny Leone at all, but model-starlet Nathalia Kaur.
Jism 2, which releases this Friday, has been handed an A certificate by the Censor Board.
