A big-ticket Indian film that shows a post-apocalyptic world in which cellphones turn against their users has ruffled the feathers of the country’s telecom companies, who say the movie is defamatory and promotes unscientific attitudes against mobile phones. In a letter to the country's censor board and the government, The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) asked that a certificate issued to allow the movie to be shown be revoked and its release suspended. The film is scheduled to start appearing in cinemas on Thursday. Pitched as one of the biggest Bollywood releases of the year, 2.0 is a multilingual film that aims to rival the big Hollywood franchises increasingly finding favour with Indian audiences. Its lead is Rajinikanth, an actor from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, who has a huge fan following and is often referred to as the biggest movie star in India.

The villain of the movie, a giant that is half-human and half-bird, has wings made out of cellphones an...

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