NEW DELHI — When he released his first music video, the Mumbai-based musician Mihir Joshi understood that it would be reviewed by India’s Central Board of Film Certification for obscene or offensive lyrics. When the board objected to a single word, he quickly agreed to part with it.
But he was flabbergasted to hear that the word was “Bombay.”
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Mr. Joshi, for his part, was adjusting to his new status as a test case. He uses both names interchangeably — his album is called “Mumbai Blues” — and describes himself as so apolitical that he reads only the sports and entertainment sections of the newspaper. The song in question, “Sorry,” was written as an imagined lament of a father to his daughter, written on the anniversary of a brutal gang rape in New Delhi.
Mr. Joshi wondered about the censorship board’s priorities. Noting that he does not drink or smoke and rarely uses profanity, he said: “Look at the songs that are coming out in Bollywood, one song that says ‘I am an alcoholic,’ and another that says ‘weed from this place is the best weed to have.’ If all of that is acceptable, and it can come out, and people are dancing to it, how can it be a problem that I have used the word ‘Bombay?’ ”
