.Fan fiction isn’t big in India, so it was surprising to see the collective imagination of the country go into overdrive in November 2015. The subject of the frenzy was Sam Mendes’ James Bond film Spectre, thanks to reports that the Central Board of Film Certification, India’s censor board, had shortened a kissing scene between actors Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci by half. In no time, there were memes about sanskari Bond. Sanskari could be loosely translated to being “traditionally cultured,” especially according to Hindu sensibilities. Twitter went to town about how sanskari Bond would prefer milk over a martini. Most of these jokes were aimed at then–CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, a modest Bollywood producer from the 1990s whose appointment came only a few months after he produced multiple music video “tributes” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
formerly Mad Cornish Projectionist.