Vishwaroopam Ban for 7 Days.Vishwaroopam Kamal Haasan.Kamal Haasan Speaks about Vishwaroopam Ban.Vishwaroopam Releasing date.Vishwaroopam Theatres in Hyderabad, Kerla, Tamilnadu.Vishwaroopam Preview.Vishwaroopam Story.Vishwaroopam Photos.
‘Vishwaroopam’ screening stopped in Hyderabad
CHENNAI: Many theatres in Bangalore and Hyderabad cancelled
morning and noon shows of Kamal Haasan movie 'Vishwaroopam' on
Friday after authorities requested them to help avoid law and order problems on
a day when Muslims celebrate the Milad-un-Nabi festival.
Representatives of Rajkamal Films said that talks were on with police and theatre owners to arrive at a time to screen the movie in both the cities.
"It will release either in the late afternoon or evening slot," said an official. Around 90 screens in Kerala screened the movie in the morning though some shows were disrupted in places like Palakkad.
The cancelled shows will add to the problems of the film, which has not been released in Tamil Nadu due to a state government decision.
Collectors of all districts in the state had asked theatres to not screen the movie after various Muslim organisations, including the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam and the Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamaat, objected to the portrayal of Muslims in the film.
After the producer filed a writ petition, the Madras high court put off the release till January 28. It will also review the content to check whether it contains offensive references.
Representatives of Rajkamal Films said that talks were on with police and theatre owners to arrive at a time to screen the movie in both the cities.
"It will release either in the late afternoon or evening slot," said an official. Around 90 screens in Kerala screened the movie in the morning though some shows were disrupted in places like Palakkad.
The cancelled shows will add to the problems of the film, which has not been released in Tamil Nadu due to a state government decision.
Collectors of all districts in the state had asked theatres to not screen the movie after various Muslim organisations, including the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam and the Tamil Nadu Tauheed Jamaat, objected to the portrayal of Muslims in the film.
After the producer filed a writ petition, the Madras high court put off the release till January 28. It will also review the content to check whether it contains offensive references.
Vishwaroopam: A riveting spy thriller
We were one of the few to have watched an early screening of Vishwaroopam in
its entirety before talks of the ban emerged in Hyderabad. In content and
technical finesse, the film breaks new ground for regional cinema. In these
troubled times, it must be emphasised that the film does not hurt sentiments of
any community.
Everyone here has a double role to play, Andrea Jeremiah
tells Pooja Kumar at a crucial juncture in the film. Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam is
a technically brilliant, ambitious film where most characters are not what they
seem. The actor-director deals with an international espionage drama through a
layered screenplay, trusting the intelligence of his audience to connect the
different threads of the story.
Vishwanath (Kamal Haasan) is a Kathak teacher who lives with
his wife Nirupama (Pooja Kumar), a nuclear oncologist, in New York. Nirupama
confides it’s a marriage of convenience that provided her a safe shelter while
she pursued her Ph.D in the U.S. The age gap between them notwithstanding, she
is put off by Vishwanath’s effeminate traits. She smells something fishy about
her husband and hires a private investigator to trail his every move.
In a sudden turn of events, the investigator gets killed by
a member of a terrorist outfit. A visiting card on his purse gives away the
names of Vishwanath and Nirupama and the terror group nabs the couple. The
outfit operates from a warehouse and is headed by Omar (Rahul Bose), severely
injured from the past.
Vishwaroopam |
Omar and Vishwanath have a past, one that takes the story
back by almost a decade, to the Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. What
follows is a maze of events that go back and forth in time, unravelling an
international spy thriller that keeps you guessing for most parts.
Nirupama is stunned to discover the true identity of her
husband, his uncle (a cameo by Shekar Kapur) and the young dancer (Andrea
Jeremiah) at her husband’s dance school. Together, they try to counter the
plans of Omar and his group that could destroy New York.
Vishwaroopam is engaging, keeps you engrossed and as you try
to make a semblance of the puzzle, several questions arise. Kamal Haasan sets
up an interesting premise for part 2.
Sanu Varghese’s spectacular cinematography becomes as
important as the actors in this thriller. The camera takes us into the dangerous
alleys of New York and the muddy, rugged terrain of Afghanistan. In the opening
sequence involving pigeons, Varghese captures the mood of the birds giving us a
hint of an ominous force at work.
The songs composed by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy gel with the
narrative of the film and the trio experiments with different genres to offset
the mood in Afghanistan.
Pooja Kumar is expressive and convincing as a young woman
coming to terms with her husband’s identity all of a sudden. Andrea Jeramiah
has a smaller role and according to the makers, she has a crucial role in Vishwaroopam
2. Rahul Bose is menacing, with his tarnished look and damaged voice making him
appear more evil.
Kamal Haasan morphs from identity to the other with ease,
like he’s done several times in the past. He draws chuckles with his effeminate
gestures and delivers an understated performance in the Afghan segment.
It’s a film that needs to be watched closely to follow the
different aspects of the story. The graphic violence in some sequences make it
unfit for viewing by children.
Vishwaroopam Movie |
Vishwaroopam is a good watch for a discerning movie
lover.
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Rahul Bose
and Shekar Kapur
Direction: Kamal Haasan
Music: Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy
Plot: A couple and their friends try to save New York from a
terrorist threat.
Bottomline: A gripping spy thriller of international
standards
‘Vishwaroopam’ released in over 80 theatres in Kerala
Actor-director Kamal Haasan’s controversial movie Vishwaroopam,
facing a two-week-ban in Tamil Nadu due to its alleged anti-Muslim content, was
released in more than 80 theatres in Kerala on Friday.
The multi-lingual film was mainly released in B-class
theatres under Kerala Cine Exhibitors Association (KCEA).
It was also screened in multiplexes and some theatres run by
the Kerala Film Exhibitor’s Federation (KFEF), which had declined to exhibit
the movie following Mr. Haasan’s decision to premier Vishwaroopam on
DTH format, industry sources said.
As per the initial report, the film has been screened in 86
theatres in the State, where about 25 per cent of the population comprises
Muslims.
“It is mainly screening in B-class theatres run by KCEA.
But, some theatres run by the Federation also screened it
today,” V. Mohanan, President, KCEA, told PTI.
He said Mr. Haasan’s home production Rajkamal Films
International was releasing the movie directly in Kerala.
KCEA, which runs more than 230 movie houses in the State,
would explore possibilities to expand the screening of the movie to more
theatres in the coming days, he said.
Hours ahead of its release, Kamal Haasan’s much-awaited Vishwaroopam was
banned for two weeks in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday night.
Citing ‘law and order’ reasons, the State government took a
decision to empower Collectors to invoke Section 144 of Cr.PC and restrain
theatre owners from screening the movie on January 25. Commissioner of Police
S. George issued an order directing theatre owners not to screen the film to
ensure peace and public tranquillity. The prohibitory orders would be in force
for a period of two weeks, highly placed police sources said.
The ban on screening the film came on a day the Madras High
Court ruled that the State government had no power to prohibit plays or insist
on prior police permission to stage them. A similar ban on The Da Vinci
Code was struck down by the High Court a few years ago.
The film is scheduled to hit the screens on Friday. Tickets
in many theatres across the State were sold out. The decision to ban
Vishwaroopam was taken after a high-level meeting at the Secretariat here. The
move also followed allegations made by some Muslim organisations that the movie
portrayed their religion in poor light.
The original plan to release the film on January 11 was also
hit after theatre owners objected to Kamal Haasan’s move to make it available
on the Direct-to-Home platform first. “It is up to the theatre owners to decide
on refund. We fear clashes between protesters and Kamal fans if the movie is
released. Adequate security arrangements will be in place to prevent any
untoward incident near movie halls,” a senior police official said.
What the ban on Kamal’s Vishwaroopam really means
The ban on Kamal Hassan’s magnum opusVishwaroopam in
Tamil Nadu evokes two emotions: sadness and anxiety.
Sadness, for a gifted and hardworking film-maker such as
Kamal Hassan for landing himself in such a mess, and anxiety, for the fall in
the threshold of intolerance to artistic expression in a state that has been
different from the rest of the country.
We haven’t seen the movie yet, and hence cannot comment on
the way Kamal Hassan has depicted Muslims or symbols of Islam. However, several
Muslim organisations in the state, notably the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra
Kazhagam (TMMK), which have seen the movie, say that it “targets Muslims and
their beliefs”.
Even with some scenes deleted, Vishwaroopam will affect the
social-harmony and peace in the state, M H Jawahirullah, MLA and TMMK leader
has reportedly said. Supporters of the TMMK and other organisations have also
staged a protest against Vishwaroopam in front of Kamal Hassan’s
office, where they burned the posters of the movie and shoe-slapped his images.
This has certainly landed the actor-director in big trouble,
perhaps the biggest in his career of more than five decades. He has reportedly
sunk about Rs 95 crore on the movie in the hope to get into the rare 100-crore
box office club.
A ban in Tamil Nadu will ruin his finances. The film was
scheduled to release tomorrow in about 500 theatres and unlike in Bollywood and
other languages, Tamil movies recoup their investment mostly from theatrical
release.
Kamal's Vishwaroopam |
After the long lull following the 1998 Coimbatore blasts,
this consolidation and hardline stand by Muslim organisations is a recent trend
in Tamil Nadu and is certainly a reason for anxiety. It appeared to have
erupted from nowhere in September 2012 in Chennai when the US consulate on the
city’s busy arterial Anna Salai
was attacked by a group of 2000 people. The protest was organised by TMMK
against an anti-Islam
film by an American that had outraged Muslims all over the world.
Reportedly, the bulletproof glass cabin of the visa section,
CCTV and sunshades of the US consulate building were damaged while some
protestors had even managed to scale its walls. The mob also pelted stones. The
brazen attack had forced the consulate to close down its office for a few days.
The city was shocked to see a high security and strategic
installation being attacked in broad daylight by a mob and wondered how such a
large group of protestors had managed to evade the police and gather in front
of the building. The failure of the police, especially the intelligence wing,
to check the movement of people towards the building, let alone the subsequent
attacks, is still a mystery. The story ended with the police arresting some
TMMK workers.
In a month, the TMMK and its allies were outraged again.
This time they trained their guns on leading actor Vijay’s blockbuster Thuppakki.
The leaders and protestors said that some scenes of the movie, which was
running to full houses by then, hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
The production team of Thuppakki immediately swung
into negotiations with the protestors and acceded to their demands. The
producer of the movie, the director and actor Vijay’s father met with 10
representatives of TMMK and 20-odd organisations and agreed to delete some
scenes. There were also some unconfirmed reports that some dialogues were even
added to make them happy. Vijay’s father even went a step ahead and promised
that the actor would depict a Muslim character in a future film.
The latest target is Vishwaroopam and the
resistance seems to be really tough.
These three incidences, in the space of a year, indicates
that the TMMK and its allies are bolder and more assertive. Is it purely a
sequence of reactions to a sequence of objectionable events, that seemed to
have naturally occurred in a short span of time; or does it indicate a trend of
political and religious assertion?
Although it has been in existence since 1995, till recently,
the TMMK had been a non-political oragnisation with allegations of hardline
posturing against them. Some of its members and leaders had been arrested
following the 1998 Coimbatore blasts while another organisation, Al Umma was
banned. There were also allegations that it was controlled by the former
members of SIMI, which was banned by the NDA government in 2002. The TMMK had
in fact asked the UPA government in 2005 to lift the ban.
Since 2009, the TMMK has a political front, the Manithaneya
Makkal Katchi, and it was an ally of the ruling AIADMK in the 2011 assembly
elections. The party had contested in three seats and won two. Coincidentally,
the new form of public assertion of dissent and intolerance also began in 2012.
In terms of the response of the state government, this is
only the third time that the state is banning a movie, that too a mainstream
Tamil movie by a top-shot such as Kamal Hassan. The first was Oru Oru
Gramathile way back in 1987 (here is an interesting
reconstruction of the events published in New York Times), the
second, the Da Vinci Code in 2006, and the third, Dam 999 in
2011.
The ban on the Da Vinci Code was lifted later
while Dam 999, which reportedly favoured Kerala on the Mullaperiyar issue,
sank at the box office.
Is the ban on Vishwaroopam a political strategy
not to alienate Muslim voters, however small they are, ahead of the 2014
elections? Has the government given in to the protestors too easily?
Given that that film industry is an integral part of the
social and economic life of the state, couldn’t there have been a middle path?
Wouldn’t this ban lead to an eruption of demands of caste
and communal organisations? Or is it purely because of the fear of communal
disharmony, particularly after the audacious September demonstration by TMMK
and its allies last year?
Some might say that Vijay’s Thuppakki (apparently
there are some similar events in both the films) got away easily thanks to
political intervention — since he was close to the AIADMK and opposed to DMK,
due to which he had really struggled during the previous government’s period —
whereas Kamal Hassan is stranded, perhaps due to inadequate political
patronage.
Will things change in the next two weeks? Will the industry
back him?
One view is that it’s time that the Muslim stereotype in
Indian movies ended. As many,including Bollywood director
Kabir Khan noted, in 1992, it was Tamil director Mani Ratnam’sRoja that
led to several movies “depicting the Muslim in his aatankwaadi stereotype.”
Since then, the stereotype has been free of copyright for anybody.
But a censor board is there simply for that. If the censor
board has passed it, India’s citizens need to respect that – whatever their
religion might be.
Unfortunately, Kamal Hassan has been caught on the wrong
foot, first with his DTH-obsession and now with this ban. Even if he is able to
ultimately wriggle out, the ban will be too costly for him. Past experiences in
the film industry show that delayed releases are in effect denied releases.
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