The steamy study of jealousy and sexual obsession, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, has been condemned as blasphemous by Hindu religious leaders.

Their anger is over one particular scene in which verses from one of their religion's most sacred texts, the Bhagavad Gita, are recited during an orgy.

The American Hindu Anti-Defamation Council has complained to the film's makers Warner Bros insisting that the scene be edited out.

Some members of the Hindu religion have expressed their anger on the Internet. Demonstrations against the company are also said to have been planned.

But despite the furore Warner Bros reportedly has no plans to change the scene before the film opens in the UK on 10 September.

Ignorant of verse origins

The offending scene comes towards the end of the movie in which Cruise and Kidman play a married couple whose relationship is altered by a confession of an unconsummated sexual fantasy.

It sees Cruise wandering past a room where an orgy is taking place, while in the background verses from the Bhagavad Gita are recited over a musical backdrop.

The Bhagavad Gita is a chapter of the epic Indian war poem, the Mahabharata. The verses in question are, says the council, part of one of the most important pieces from the entire saga.

A Warner Bros spokesman has apologised on behalf of the company for using the track with the poetry in the film but said no offence had been intended.