JOIN US Actor Kamal Haasan visited Bangalore on Saturday to thank the State and the people for their support and rousing reception for his film “Vishwaroopam.”
At a press conference at the Renukamba theatre at Malleswaram, the actor, flanked by close friend and actor Ramesh Arvind, repeatedly thanked the State which allowed the screening of the movie without any cuts. “It gave me strength. Bangalore is good place to release the film. India lives here so it is a good sample,” he said.
Kamal said, “Now, films like ‘Kadal’ and ‘Aadhi Bhagavan’ are also facing problems. This is becoming a trend which should be challenged. I knew my freedom of speech was important. But I did not know that the country would also support this and the common man would find it important. I felt I had freedom after all.”
Speaking about the cuts in the movie, Kamal said he was anguished, but never depressed, only oppressed. “I have always been a secular man. This was as if they were saying I am not secular enough,” he said.
He, however, said that no visual portions were removed from the film, but audio was blocked in two scenes, which some Muslims had opposed. When asked if the opposition to his movie could be a conspiracy, he answered: “It could be. I am so paranoid at the moment that I will believe anything.”
Kamal promised to release “Vishwaroopam 2” by the end of this year, if there were no obstacles to the making of the film. “Vishwaroopam” is now running to packed theatres in Tamil Nadu. According to Kamal, the movie will be released in the UK, France and the US. The Hindi version will be released in New York next week and the Tamil version is already breaking records in the US.