‘Vishwaroopam’: Kamal Haasan withdraws petition against ban; film releasing on Feb 7

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: As a result of the five-hour-long tripartite meeting on Saturday, the two-week ban on Kamal Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ has now been lifted and the actor has withdrawn his petition from the Madras High Court on Monday. Post the legal proceedings, the film will see the light of day in Tamil Nadu, albeit after the omission of certain scenes deemed objectionable by the Muslim groups. Besides that, Haasan has agreed to tone down some scenes in the film. District collectors in the state have revoked the prohibitory orders under which the release of the film was banned. The official release date of the film is going to be February 7 and February 15 for its DTH release. Kamal Haasan thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Home Secretary R Rajagopal for acting peacemakers between him and the Muslim groups and help both the sides to reach an amicable agreement. The film has been lapped up well by the masses in North India as well as in other parts of the country. But due to the 11-day ban in Tamil Nadu, the biggest market for the South Indian cinema, ‘Vishwaroopam’ has lost an enormous sum of Rs 30-55 crores. Post its release in Tamil Nadu, the film will contend with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Kadal’ and Bejoy Nambiar’s ‘David’ for the top slot on Box Office. ‘Vishwaroopam’ landed in murky waters when Muslim groups alleged that the film shows their holy book Quran in an objectionable way and also claimed that the film showed Muslims as terrorists. The Tamil Nadu government had banned the release of Vishwaroopam in all 31 districts of Tamil Nadu for two weeks on January 23, saying it feared law and order problems. Kamal Hassan filed a petition in Madras High Court, but the court upheld the state`s order.