'Fifty Shades of Grey' Book a Hit in India But Movie Banned

"Fifty Shades of Grey" has reached popularity in Asia. However, India is banning the movie release in their country.

TIME reported that India has censored the film. India's Central Board of Film Certification Chief Executive Shravan Kumar said the film's promoters could still submit an appeal; however, he did not specify the reason for banning "Fifty Shades of Grey." Universal Pictures is reportedly undergoing the review process to appeal the film.

"It did not pass, but it is not unusual as many mainstream films don't get clearance in the first step, people have the option to go for a revising committee's opinion," Kumar told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, via The Telegraph.

A source from Universal Pictures stated that India still pushed through with the ban even though they have already cut down and removed explicit scenes, according to Reuters.

"Our next step would be to go to the revising committee. These delays simply eat into revenues and encourage piracy," the source told The Telegraph. 

India joins other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Kenya for banning the film. Comcast Corp is no longer pursuing on releasing the film in China, "the world's second-largest film market," as they are known to ban sexual films similar to "Fifty Shades of Grey."

India's censorship committee has had issues during the past few months. Former Chairman Leela Samson recently quit in January "after accusing the federal government of interfering in the board's decision," notes Reuters.

After Samson's incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated a new set of guidelines for the board to set the standard of content profanity. 

In one of the Bollywood films called "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" (Give It All You've Got), the board decided to censor the word "lesbian" in the entire film.

Nonetheless, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is still a popular book in India. In Amazon India, it was ranked among the bestselling books in different categories, as LA Times reported. It ranks No. 5 in Contemporary Fiction and No. 3 in Romance. It also has a top 2 ranking in Reference books.

Despite the India market deprivation, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is still surging in the worldwide box office, as stated in The Guardian.

The film has already passed the $500 million mark. The movie, which has a $40 million budget, has about more than $400 million coming from outside of U.S. sales.

It has also been considered as the "most successful R-rated movie of all time," according to Digital Trends.  

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