Spectre kissing scenes banned in India spark #SanskariJamesBond memes

Time to swap those Bond girl bikinis for traditional Indian saris

James Bond has India's censor board all hot under the collar

James Bond fans in India are mocking the censor board’s decision to “cut short” kissing scenes from Spectre through the popular modern day medium of memes.

Daniel Craig’s passionate scenes with Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci were dubbed “too excessive”, while the words f**k and a**hole have also been banned.

Hashtag #SanskariJamesBond began trending on social media to mock the ‘cleaning up’ of 007, and the results are brilliant.

Hindi word ‘Sanskari’ translates to mean ‘virtuous’, which explains why Indian Twitter users have been painstakingly photoshopping Bond film stills from across the decades to replace Bond girls’ bikinis with traditional Indian saris, and covering up Craig’s torso in that famous Casino Royale sea shot.

Ashoke Pandit, a member of the censor board, confirmed to BBC Hindi that the scenes had been heavily edited, but claimed the decision had been made in “personal capacity” by the board’s controversial head, Pahlaj Nihalani.

“He does these kind of things,” Pandit said. “Other shots have also been cut along with the kissing scene. This seems like a joke. If you do this to a James Bond film, then it’s shameful.”

Kissing scenes are regularly censored in films and TV shows in India as public displays of affection are still widely looked down upon in the largely conservative country.

India’s censor board last came under fire in February when its proposed banned list of 28 “objectionable and abusive words” was met by an industry outcry and eventually withdrawn.

Nihalani himself has refused to comment and Spectre is released in India today.