Bond 23 bike stunt 'illegal'

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THE Indian government have requested that a scene in the latest James Bond film be rewritten as it shows people travelling on train rooftops, which is illegal in India and depicts the state-run rail service in a poor light.

Daniel Craig, who stars as the eponymous spy, was originally scripted to jump from a motorcycle onto a moving train with roof packed full of commuters and then leap across equally crowded carriages.

The rewritten scene will still have Bond involved in the roof-top action, but have the passengers safely inside the train only.

"Rooftop travel is illegal in India and it cannot be encouraged, there are many trains in India and not all trains have people travelling on the rooftops." Indian Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi told AFP. He had concerns that the original script would portray a false impression about the Indian railways and rooftop travel, many Indians use this method to avoid paying for tickets. Trivedi added: "I have proposed that the spy say something like: 'Indian Railways is as strong as James Bond'." Hoping that the action blockbuster could increase publicity for the state-run railway that is facing competition from private firms.

Bond 23 is directed by Sam Mendes and is the second James Bond film to be filmed on location in India after Octopussy in 1983, that featured Roger Moore as 007 and included an action sequence on - and under - a train.

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