Austin Powers gets censor8217;s goat

MUMBAI, AUG 23: The spy can shag' no more. Or at least not in India where the censor board has completely exorcised the word shag' from...

MUMBAI, AUG 23: The spy can shag8217; no more. Or at least not in India where the censor board has completely exorcised the word shag8217; from the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, for the same reason that quinny8217; was ousted from Shekhar Kapur8217;s Elizabeth.

The word shag8217; is British slang for sexual intercourse and is the reason Malaysian censors banned the movie altogether. Indian audiences might still get to see the scatological antics of Mike Myers as the cryogenically frozen secret agent who thaws out in the 90s. But the film will simply be titled, Austin Powers 28242; when it hits city theatres on September 3.

8220;Well, we did find out what the word meant,8221; Censor Board chairperson Asha Parekh told Express Newsline. 8220;But should you make such a word common, especially as there is so much filth already around?8221; she asked.

So, as expectant audiences troop into city theatres to hear raunchy Mike Myers8217; catchlines like Yeah baby, lets shag!8217; and shagidelic8217; and James Bondish introductions like I8217;m Felicity Shagwell, Shag very well,8221; they are likely to be treated to a series of bleeps. The fate of the scene featuring Powers8217; car, the Shaguar8217;, is not known as are the names of other characters like Ivana Humapalot.

The film got a PG-13 rating in Hollywood, for sexual innuendo and crude humour8217;, something that might certainly warm the cockles of the board.

So the ribald, innuendo-loaded sequel to the 1997 James Bond spoof, will be shorn of all references to the S word.

The movie is still under review with the board, and according to officials, one visual cut, the scene where Myers fiddles suggestively with a chess piece and a series of audio cuts which completely cut out the S8217; word, have been made. All the cuts have been amicably accepted by the film8217;s distributors Warner Bros.

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This intentionally silly film continues with the adventures of Myers as the bespectacled, flower-suited, wig and buck-toothed, sexually hyperactive agent, in his fight against supervillain Dr Evil also played by Myers.

8220;The censors have cut out the soul of the film,8221; complained one official at Sterling theatre where the movie is due to open next month. Even the posters in the theatre have to blank out the S8217; word.

Globally, the laugh riot has not only broken box office records but also pleased the critics since its release in June this year. In a classic David and Goliath act, it first dethroned the Star Wars film The Phantom Menace from its high box office perch.

It also collected 54 million, the highest ever weekend opening for a comedy film in the US and with a gross of over 200 million worldwide is slated to be the largest funny film of all time.