India: Romance in the Crosshairs
In India, even Superman’s now-famous flying kiss was too hot to handle. The Central Board of Film Certification quietly removed the iconic mid-air smooch between Superman and Lois Lane, deeming it “overly sensual.” Critics erupted at the double standard: as one Twitter user quipped, India will happily show gore and mayhem in films, yet draws the line at a simple kiss.
Bollywood itself has had its share of courtroom romances. In 1978, Raj Kapoor’s film Satyam Shivam Sundaram featured a bold kiss, prompting the Tamil Nadu chief minister to warn he’d campaign to cut kisses from movies.
Decades later a legal drama unfolded over a steamy scene in Dhoom 2: a lawyer sued actors Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan in 2006, accusing them of “lowering the dignity of women” by locking lips on screen.
Even an international celebrity kiss became news: Hollywood star Richard Gere famously planted several kisses on Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS-awareness event, only to be taken to court for committing an “obscene act” in public.
India still has an old law on the books outlawing public kissing as obscenity; in 2005 even an Israeli couple was fined for kissing at their Rajasthan wedding.
Pakistan: Cross-Border Drama
Pakistan, too, treats on-screen romance as taboo. In 2005, Pakistani actress Meera’s on-screen kiss with an Indian co-star in the joint film Nazar created a firestorm. Government officials denounced the scene as “against Islamic and moral values,” warning that Pakistani celebrities abroad should not “spread vulgarity.”
In fact, Pakistan officially forbids any kissing in its films, even though song-and-dance numbers flourish without similar scrutiny. The uproar was so intense that Meera reportedly received threats – showing how a single kiss can become a national issue.
Middle East: Romance on the Ropes
Even in the Middle East, a PG-13 kiss can be a red flag. In 2024, Sony’s romance It Ends With Us (based on the Colleen Hoover novel) was outright banned in Qatar purely for containing kissing scenes.
Around the same time, Disney’s Lightyear was effectively blacklisted: more than a dozen Muslim-majority countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and others) refused to show the Pixar movie solely because it includes a brief same-sex kiss. Studios have learned the drill – the scene was even cut by Disney on its own for some releases, only to be restored after public outcry at home.
Globally, these bans join others: even the hit Barbie movie hit snags in Arab markets over feminist and LGBTQ themes. The message is clear – any hint of romance beyond very chaste limits can send these films back to the editing room (or straight to the no-screen list).
Iran: Zero Tolerance
In Iran, the rules against intimacy are famously strict. The media has nothing to gain from a quick peck – state TV once apologized after accidentally showing a couple share a brief kiss on a hidden-camera show. Things get far harsher in the courts.
In 2016, Kurdish filmmaker Keywan Karimi received a draconian sentence – six years in prison and 223 lashes – because his film Drum included one on-screen kiss. (The sentence was later reduced, but the lash count remained as a warning.)
Under Iranian law, even a single kiss can be treated as a serious crime or blasphemy.
Morocco: The Public Kiss Scandal
Not all controversies stay in the editing bay. In mid-2025, an Italian film crew shooting in Tangier inadvertently kicked up local drama. A promotional video showed actors sharing a passionate kiss in a public square as the call to prayer echoed around them.
Many Moroccan viewers were “shocked,” calling it disrespectful of the city’s cultural and religious identity. The debate lit up social media – a reminder that a filmed kiss can provoke outrage far from Hollywood’s studio gates.
Across these examples from Bollywood to Beirut, one thing is clear: a movie kiss is never just a kiss. In some parts of the world it becomes political, moral, even dangerous. Sit back for a smooch on screen? Only if you know your audience.
