The film, a surefire Oscar prospect next year, has been stuck with the censors for the past two months who have insisted on a total of six cuts, three audio and three visual.

But adamant distributor Paramount has dug in. ``We will not release the film if it is subject to cuts,'' a Paramount official told Express Newsline. Producer-director Spielberg has already instructed distributors not to release the film if cut anywhere in the world, a rule he has followed with all his serious films like Schindler's List.

However, Ryan has now joined the ranks of a growing list of English films which have faced censor board oppobrium. Warner Brothers' Wesley Snipes starrer Blade was refused certification this month on grounds of being excessively violent. Two months ago their film BoogieNights was shot down and crashed in a heap with Columbia pictures' The People versus Larry Flynt.

Even as the Censor Board passes Hindi films like Bandit Queen, Satya and Fire with explicit sex and violence, English films are being through microscopic scrutiny. An executive recalls how the censors even asked him to chop a cigarette smoking sequence from One Night Stand. English films are made to run through the entire three hoop hurdle, of examining committee, revising committee and apellate tribunal.

When contacted for her version, Censor Board Chairperson Asha Parekh refused comment.

There's no consistency in the cuts, say Hollywood film distributors. The Steven Seagal actioner Glimmer Man was subject to six cuts while Fire Down Below, another near-identical Seagal action film, got away unscathed.

Distributors point out that Ryan has been released in as many as 30 countries worldwide including China, Turkey and Singapore and granted auniversal certification in many of them.

Ryan was presented before the examining committee of the Censor Board two months ago and the distributors were asked to cut the six scenes. The film then went before the reviewing committee, which is a second independent stage. Strangely, both bodies have suggested identical cuts.

The film, originally slated for a November 20 release, is now to be shown to the Film Certificate Apellate Tribunal headed by retired Justice B Lentin.

``The Board said that scenes of violence shouldn't be shown for entertainment, but Ryan is a realistic war film,'' the official said. ``The scenes are thought provoking and tell people of the futility of war.''

Many of the visual scenes, including those of hands falling off and intestines spilling out, are fleeting five-second shots. The audio cuts suggested, involve expletives and description of the human anatomy, not entirely out of context in a war situation.

Twentieth Century Foxs' sci-fi megamovie AlienResurrection too has been shown the red light by the censors. The film which was due for a August release has been refused certification.

A revised version of the film, which was refused certification at all three stages of Censor Board, is now being prepared for a fresh appeal.