Indian audiences will see a slightly altered version of Verity when the Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson psychological thriller arrives in cinemas.
Ahead of the film’s October 2 release, the Central Board of Film Certification has reportedly asked for several modifications to Michael Showalter’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, including cuts to intimate material. The most notable change is a reported 23-second reduction across intimate scenes, meaning some of the movie’s more overtly sexual content will be shorter in the Indian theatrical version.
That is particularly significant for Verity because sexuality is not incidental to the film. Director Michael Showalter has openly described the adaptation as more erotic than the novel in places, with Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson helping shape some of its intimate moments during filming.
Why the cuts matter more for ‘Verity’ than a typical thriller
Verity follows struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, played by Johnson, who is hired to finish a bestselling book series after its author, Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, becomes unable to continue writing.
Lowen moves into the Crawford family home and soon becomes increasingly entangled with Verity’s husband Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett. She also discovers a disturbing manuscript that raises questions about Verity, her marriage and whether anything inside the house can be taken at face value.
The film therefore uses attraction, voyeurism and sexual tension as part of its psychological game rather than simply as standalone romantic material.
Showalter has previously revealed that one intimate sequence evolved during production when Hathaway and Johnson suggested expanding the scene in a more unexpected direction. He described the resulting moment as erotic and transgressive, illustrating how deliberately the film leans into sexuality.
That means even relatively short trims can be more noticeable here than they might be in a conventional studio thriller.
The international version is considerably more explicit
Outside India, Verity has been classified as an adult-oriented thriller largely because of its sexual material, nudity and violence.
In British Columbia, for example, the official classification notes several sexually suggestive sequences, including scenes containing breast or buttock nudity, along with violence and sexual language. The international theatrical version runs close to two hours.
The movie has also received an R rating in the U.S., while promotional material has made little attempt to disguise its erotic-thriller identity.
That is why the reported CBFC edits are unlikely to fundamentally change the story, but they may reduce the intensity or duration of some of the scenes that distinguish the adaptation from Hoover’s novel.
One important point should also be kept clear: while the 23-second figure is being reported for intimate-scene reductions, the currently searchable CBFC database entry most easily available online is for a Verity trailer rather than the complete feature-film certificate. That trailer was certified for adults in May.
So, unless the final feature certificate is publicly surfaced with a full modification list, it is safer not to treat every reported individual edit as independently confirmed by the CBFC database itself.
‘Verity’ was intentionally made more erotic than the book
The cuts also arrive at an interesting moment because the cast and filmmaker have spent much of the promotional tour discussing precisely how far the adaptation pushes the novel’s sensuality.
Johnson has spoken positively about filming the intimate material with Hathaway, while Showalter has explained that some of the film’s sexual tension developed organically during rehearsals and shooting.
That creative choice fits the movie’s broader approach.
Instead of translating Hoover’s internal narration directly to screen, Verity visualizes Lowen’s imagination, suspicions and attraction. Hathaway consequently gets far more physical presence within the story than a strictly literal adaptation might have allowed.
Indian viewers should still get the same mystery, performances and central plot. But the reported CBFC modifications mean the theatrical cut will not be completely identical to the version playing in several international markets.
Verity, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, releases in Indian cinemas on October 2, 2026.
