Obsession's "Original Uncut Version" Is Now on JioHotstar. What Indian Viewers Can and Can't Say About the Difference
Curry Barker's horror film Obsession reached Indian cinemas in a version cut for certification. JioHotstar subsequently announced an “Original Uncut Version” in English and Hindi, available from October 30, according to Bollywood Hungama.
What the reports establish
ABP Live reported that the Central Board of Film Certification passed the film with an 'A' certificate only after 38 seconds were removed, 24 seconds it described as extreme violence and 14 seconds of graphic sexual activity, and that a nude scene was ordered to be replaced. The film opened in Indian cinemas on May 29 with a runtime of 110.29 minutes and ended its Indian run with an estimated gross of Rs 99.25 crore, the report said. Barker said, "I definitely did not expect Obsession to be a big hit in India." The streaming version is labelled uncut by the platform, and its Hindi dub features Kriti Sanon and Varun Dhawan, the announcement said. The precise differences between streaming and theatrical versions have not been independently compared here.
The film's reported economics are unusual. TheWrap and Bloody Disgusting report a production budget of about $750,000. SlashFilm reported a worldwide gross above $500 million. TheWrap reported that the film turned a $17 million opening weekend into a long run, with each of the next four weekends earning more than the first, and that it became only the second original film since the start of 2018, after "Sinners", to gross more than $200 million in the US and Canada. The film stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette and began streaming at 7 pm on October 30 on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar, according to Bollywood Hungama. These are estimates, not audited profit: production budgets and box-office gross exclude or differ from marketing, distribution costs and the amounts retained by cinemas.
Why the versions can differ
Theatrical certification and online age classification operate under different frameworks in India. The Cinematograph Act, 1952 governs film certification for public exhibition. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s background note describes online publishers’ age-classification duties under Part III of the IT Rules, 2021. A platform label alone does not establish exactly which scenes appear in a given version. Viewers who want to know what changed need a reliable scene-by-scene comparison, not just the word “uncut”.