Celebrated actor-producer Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam missed its date with the Tamil Nadu audience on Friday following the high court order postponing its release till January 28. But, in most parts of Kerala, the `100 crore film ran to packed theatres with screening being stopped in just a couple of places.
In Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, barely a three-hour drive down the national highway from here, senior district police officers viewed the film at a special matinee show and cleared it for public screening. “There is nothing objectionable in the movie,” said additional SP, L.T. Chandrasekhar, emerging from the show at Narthaki theatre. Another officer said the action film was “about the US government fighting the Taliban and how some misguided youth get sucked into the terror web, so we have no reason to object to its screening.” Andhra Pradesh home minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy asked the police to stop the screening of the film for a day on Friday, in view of the sensitive situation prevailing on Milad-un-Nabi.
The decision was taken after Muslim religious leaders met her and asked to ban the film which they claimed had scenes that hurt their religious sentiments. Ms Sabita Reddy informed the state police headquarters which in turn directed Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissioners to stop the screening for a day.
Justifying her order, Ms Sabita Reddy said, “The situation is already tense in the old city. During Milad-un-Nabi at different localities around 80,000 people gathered during the religious processions. If rumours spread it will lead to law and order situation. In view of all these prevailing circumstances, the police were asked to discuss with the exhibitors to ensure no screening is done on this day.”
Meanwhile, top bureaucrats of Tamil Nadu government, including the police and law officers, held protracted discussion on Friday at Fort St George to evolve strategy in view of the film’s special screening for high court judge K Venkataraman on Saturday and his next hearing on January 28. Chief secretary Sheela Balakrishnan chaired the meeting attended by home secretary R. Rajagopal, public secretary A C Mohandoss, DGP K. Ramanujam, Chennai police commissioner S. George and advocate general A. Navaneethakrishnan.
Kerala was the only southern state to go ahead with the screening of Vishwaroopam as scheduled on January 25, even as alleged pro-Muslim outfits ransacked theaters in Ernakulam, Kottayam and Palakkad. Of the 86 centres where Vishwaroopam was screened, only three suspended screening following violence. Initial estimates say that more than 80 percent of the release centres registered 90-100 percent opening. “There is not a single moment in the film that shows Muslims in bad light,”said a viewer. This makes superstar Rajnikant’s fervent appeal to release the film even more poignant. “I have known Kamal for years. He is not the kind of person who hurts others,” he said.
The fear of community reprisal on ‘Milad-un-Nabi’ day forced Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka governments to postpone screenings by one and two days respectively. Though no official ban was issued like in Tamil Nadu, all screenings scheduled for the day in Hyderabad and Bengaluru were cancelled.