Row in India delays Da Vinci Code

The film was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday

The Indian release of the Hollywood film The Da Vinci Code has been delayed indefinitely by Sony Pictures after a row with the country's censors.

Sony Pictures said the censors' demand for disclaimers at the beginning and end of the film led to the delay.

The Censor Board has asked for disclaimers saying the film was "a work of pure fiction".

The film, based on the best-selling book by Dan Brown, was launched at the Cannes Film Festival this week.

Stiff opposition

The BBC's Monica Chadha in Mumbai (Bombay) says the Censor Board wanted the disclaimers to read "it is a work of pure fiction and has no correspondence to historical facts of the Christian religion".

However, Sony Pictures said it had a legal statement at the end of the film and did not believe additional or modified language was required.

Sony's statement reads "the characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional".

The company statement also said it hoped an agreement could be reached as soon as possible so that the film could be released in India.

The movie has faced stiff opposition from the Christian community with some Catholic groups asking for a ban on its release.

Following special screenings for various Catholic leaders and even the information and broadcasting minister, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the board finally cleared the film for release on Thursday, providing the disclaimers were inserted.