India bans screening of Fifty Shades of Grey

India's film censor board has decided to ban the film Fifty Shades of Grey from being screened in the country.

The chief executive of the Central Board of Film Certification, Shravan Kumar, did not specify reasons behind the ban but said Universal Pictures, the Comcast Corp unit that released the film, could appeal the decision.

A Universal Pictures source said the Indian censor board had objected to some of the film's dialogue, even after the studio made voluntary edits to the film to tone down the explicit scenes and removed all nudity.

The Universal Studios source said the studio had already approached the relevant committee at the central board to make its appeal.

Under Section 5b of the Indian Cinematograph Act, the censor board can deny permission for public exhibition of any film that violates public order, decency or morality and is likely to incite the commission of any offence.

The new-look censor board constituted under the new government has issued guidelines saying films exhibited in the country should not contain profanity.

The film which opened worldwide in February has grossed at least $400m in global sales.

Malaysia, Indonesia and Kenya have banned Fifty Shades from their theatres. Malaysia found the film to be "more like pornography than a movie" and its Film Censorship Board said it contained "scenes that are not of natural sexual content."

The movie version of the best-selling 2011 novel by E L James stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as a couple in a sadomasochistic relationship.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, the 18-rated film has been criticised by domestic violence campaigners in America.

Narrating a kinky billionaire bachelor's tale of violent sex, the movie stars a sexually inexperienced college student Anastasia Steele, who is intrigued and terrified by the multi-millionaire Christian Grey's sexual demands.

Ana discovers that Christian is turned on by violent sex. He's obsessed with BDSM — a condensed abbreviation for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.

The film and the book have been seen as portraying violence as the new erotic.