At just under 3 hours, No Time To Die is the longest James Bond film to date. Global James Bond fans may want to remember the latest film in the franchise No Time To Die for being the last to feature Daniel Craig in the eponymous part. However fans of the timeless franchise in India have more reason to rejoice this time.
No Time To Die is the first Bond film to be passed with no cuts by the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). This, in spite of some intimate scenes and violence.
“It’s a straight UA with no cuts,” source from film’s distributors Warner Brothers tell me.
In 2015, when the last James Bond film Spectre was heavily censored, chief Pahlaj Nihalani was the brunt of illimitable Twitter jokes about his ‘sanskari’ censoring of Daniel Craig’s kissing scenes with Monica Belluci and Lea Seydoux. Both of Daniel Craig's kisses with his co-stars were reduced by 50 per cent.
The censor board had nothing against James Bond kissing. But the length of the kisses were found to be unnecessarily excessive.
In Casino Royale (2006), two lovemaking/kissing scenes were reduced to almost nil. And in Skyfall Daniel Craig’s love-making scene in the shower with Berenice Lim Marlohe was blurred by the censors.
No Time To Die has been delayed multiple times, but will finally hit the US theatres on October 8. Earlier, the film was slated to release in April 2020. On September 10, Universal Pictures announced that the film will be released in theatres in India on September 30.
No Time To Die, helmed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, also stars Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Jeffrey Wright in supporting roles. Rami Malek will be seen playing the main antagonist, Lyutsifer Safin.
Image source: IMDb