'Da Vinci Code' to be realized in India soon

"The Da Vinci Code" will be released in movie theaters across India on Friday, one week late, after the censor board and the film's distributor reached an agreement to display a statement saying the film is fiction.

Photo: 'Da Vinci Code' to be realized in India soon

The movie didn't hit movie theaters in India at the time of its worldwide release last week because of negotiations over the statement.

Vikramjit Roy, a spokesman for Sony Pictures India Ltd., the distributor, confirmed Wednesday that the film would be released Friday, after an agreement to run an announcement before and after the film.

The 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."

Roy said it would run for 15 seconds at both the beginning and end of the movie.

After protests by Roman Catholic groups against the movie, the censor board cleared it without any cuts but ruled last week that only adults could watch the film, and that a statement saying it was fiction must be displayed.

The movie, which opened on more than 12,000 screens internationally, drew US$232 million ( Ђ 193 million) at the end of its opening weekend, a statement from Sony said, reports the AP.

I.L.