TN Govt. bans release of VRoopam for two weeks

( N Thyagarajan )


At  a high-level meeting held at the Secretariat on Wednesday, the TN government has issued orders to ban the release of the mega-budget film Vishwaroopam for two weeks.

The government has issued the orders and faxed it to all the district collectors.

The film is to hit all cinema halls on January 25th and the Direct-to-Home show to take place on February 2.
The film was produced in tri-lingual, namely, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi at a cost of Rs 95 crores.

Actor Kamal Hassan with some artistes and technicians of the Vishwaroopam had gone to Los Angels to premier the film for some of Hollywood artistes, it is understood.

Following protests from 24 Muslim outfits which met the TN Home Secretary R.Rajagopal under the banner of Federation of Muslim Organisations explained the Film is aimed to tarnish the image of the Islam and Muslims and added its release would disturb the communal harmony.

The government had invoked prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Cr PC, citing a possible law and order situation in the run-up to Milad-ul-Nabi.

But the producer-actor Kamal Hassan in an interview to a private news channel, has said that he treats the Muslim as his own brothers and in no way portrayed them in 'poor light'. He also said that his Muslim brothers would appreciate him after they watched the movie.