BOMBAY - An antiwar film that depicts the euphoria after India's first successful nuclear tests and the horror of Sept. 11 has been deemed too provocative for Indian eyes.

Just weeks after nuclear-armed India and Pakistan pulled back from the threat of war, the film censor board has demanded that a veteran documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan, make 21 cuts to ''War and Peace.'' The board cited scenes that ''may have the effect of desensitizing or dehumanizing people.''

Critics say the decision is part of an effort to muzzle Indian media that challenge the ruling coalition led by Hindu nationalists. Patwardhan says the cuts would ruin the three-hour film, which ends with silent scenes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In an interview at his Bombay apartment Saturday, Patwardhan said he will appeal the cuts to the Appellate Tribunal in New Delhi today. He expects to win, as he has each time the board has challenged his other social and political documentaries.

''The cuts that they asked for are so ridiculous that they won't hold up in court,'' Patwardhan said. ''But if these cuts do make it, it will be the end of freedom of expression in the Indian media.''

''War and Peace'' is about India's celebrations after successful nuclear tests in May 1998. There are chest-thumping scenes of Hindus praising Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for the secret tests near the western desert town of Pokhran, with fireworks, rallies and cheers of ''Atom Bomb Vajpayee,'' and ''Pokhran has ignited every atom of manhood.'''

The film is also about the consequences of nuclear bombs and the power of the Hindu fundamentalist forces steering Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP-led coalition won reelection in 1999, aided by the national jubilation over joining the club of nuclear nations.

The Central Board of Film Certification demanded the cuts, even after ''War and Peace'' won top honors at the state-run Bombay International Film Festival in February.

Among the ordered cuts are: footage of independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi minutes before he was gunned down by Hindu-nationalist Nathuram Godse in 1948; visuals of Hindus cutting their hands with razors to sign their names in blood on messages of congratulations for the nuclear tests; all scenes with Vajpayee and other political leaders; and a sequence that has leaders of Hinduism's lower Dalit caste, known as ''untouchables,'' lamenting that the nuclear tests were conducted on Buddha's birthday. Many Dalits have converted to Buddhism as a means to escape Hinduism's caste discrimination.

The censor board chairman, Arvind Trivedi, an actor and former Hindu-nationalist member of Parliament, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Trivedi recently told other journalists that he has not seen the film and denies the board's decision was based on politics or pressure.

Patwardhan, 52, who graduated from Brandeis University, says if he wins the appeal, the film would open to Indian audiences.

Mahesh Bhatt, one of India's most respected filmmakers, called the board's demands ''shameful.''

''It is appalling that the land that deifies Gandhi makes it so difficult for a man like Patwardhan, who articulates the same values that Gandhi dreamed for India,'' Bhatt said in a telephone interview. ''The sanity of his film, it just undermines the war hysteria that they've whipped up.''

Patwardhan said the film's message is that nuclear weapons are not a deterrent to war, as promoted by the nuclear nations.

It has been argued, however, that were it not for the nuclear arsenals of India and Pakistan, the longtime South Asian rivals might have launched a fourth war in June, when their war rhetoric peaked.

India blamed Islamabad's spy agency and Pakistan-based Islamic militants for deadly assaults on the Indian Parliament in December and an Indian army base in May. The claims and subsequent denials by Pakistan nearly provoked war, with Islamabad suggesting it would use nuclear weapons if it learned India was preparing to do the same.

International pressure, prompted by fears of the world's first nuclear war, persuaded the neighbors to back down, though they remain on a war footing. One million troops remain on alert along their frontier.

''The film challenges the macho notion that India needs nuclear bombs,'' said Patwardhan. ''What happened on Sept. 11 proved that you don't need nuclear weapons, all you need are boxcutters.''

In the final scene of the film, Patwardhan quotes Gandhi as silent footage shows the jets slamming into New York's World Trade Center, victims staggering, and police officers collapsing.

''If there is a victor left, the very victory will be a living death for the nation that emerges victorious,'' Gandhi said a half-century ago. ''There is no escape from the impending doom, save through a bold and unconditional acceptance of the nonviolent method with all its glorious implications.''

The last film directed by Bhatt was ''Zakhm,'' or ''Wound,'' based on memories of growing up with a Muslim mother and Hindu father.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press

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