'Vishwaroopam' ban: Kamal feels alienated at home

Disheartened as ban on Vishwaroopam stays in TN

A disheartened actor-director Kamal Haasan almost decided to leave the country, perplexed by the rising intolerance against his latest film “Vishwaroopam”, as his first attempts to screen it in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday met with disruptions, sporadic violence and attacks on his “Muslim fans”.

Jolted by the abrupt stoppage of the morning shows in several parts of Tamil Nadu, a visibly shaken Kamal poured his angst out at his Alwarpet home. It climaxed in an exasperated wish to “even leave India”.

This was even before the Madras High Court’s First Bench overturned the single judge’s Tuesday night order staying the ban on the film in the state.

“Money is not an issue in our family; I am hurt by the judge’s remarks that my legal recourse to revoke the ban was based on money considerations, though I risk losing my entire property including this house where I grew up if I can’t repay the film’s financier,” an almost tearful Kamal said. “I have already given it in writing that will enable the financier to attach my properties if I can’t pay up,” he said.

Worried more about his Muslim fans being “attacked and driven out” of theatres in the morning — in some places like Chennai “Vishwaroopam” banners were torn down and in Ramanathapuram a theatre about to screen it was attacked with petrol bombs — Kamal feared that “if I try to figure out the true cause of this sudden turn of events, I may get sucked into politics.

“But I am only a film artiste who strive to create all the time and who pays income tax honestly,” he said. 

At one stage he shuddered at the possibility of being “hounded” out. In a vein reminiscent of the hounded painter M F Husain, Kamal remarked that he wished to relocate to a “secular state, anywhere between Kashmir and Kerala”. But “even if that is not available, I may have to go and live in a foreign country; I will still be a Tamilian and an Indian,” added the charged-up actor.

As TV channels beamed these words, his outpour quickly brought scores of top artistes and film industry bigwigs including Rajnikant to his home, appealing to Kamal Haasan “not to leave Tamil Nadu”, with a “we-are-with-you” reassurance. Around 1 pm, the dynamics changed, as some Muslim leaders led by Congress MP J M Haroon came to the actor’s house and discussed with him “those dialogues and scenes” in “Vishwaroopam” seen as offending Muslim sensibilities.

Kamal, who heard them out, prided himself as one whose 50-year film career was built “on the shoulders of giants like Sivaji Ganesan and MGR” and reiterated that his film “is pro-Indian Muslim”. He, however, agreed to delete from the movie “some more scenes and words (particularly from the Holy Quran) pointed out by the Muslim leaders” which hurt them.  “I have explored all possibilities with my Muslim brothers and the differences have been amicably solved,” he declared.

Nonetheless, fresh hopes raised by this hearty gesture were quickly dashed as word came in that the High Court Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice Aruna Jegadeesan allowed the state government’s appeal that justified the ban on screening the movie by the various district collectors’ orders passed under Sec 144 of CrPC, “to maintain public order, peace, safety and communal harmony”.

 Later in the evening, the tale took a political twist. DMK chief M Karunanidhi and DMDK leader Vijayakant blamed AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha for the current impasse over the film, as “Amma” was allegedly “angered” by Kamal’s recent praise of P Chidambaram as possible prime ministerial candidate from Tamil Nadu in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.