Author Salman Rushdie says that India needs to ask itself why it's becoming a culturally intolerant country that bans books and movies that offend some people.

Rushdie was talking to CNN-IBN news channel about "Vishwaroopam," a Tamil language film recently banned in the southern state of Tamil Nadu after Muslim groups said it was offensive to Islam.

Rushdie said in the interview shown Thursday that India needed to ask itself why it was "so easy in this society to shut things down."

Rushdie had to cancel his appearance at a literary festival in India last year amid protests and threats linked to his book "The Satanic Verses," which some Muslims consider blasphemous. The book is banned in India, where Rushdie was born.