Vishwaroopam: All hurdles cleared, ready to release tomorrow

Chennai: The Madras high court on Tuesday (February 5) dismissed a PIL seeking a ban on screening of actor-director Kamal Hassan's controversial film Vishwaroopam in all languages across the country.

A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice M Venugopal said they saw no "genuinity" in the petition as the film is set to be released in Tamil Nadu following a compromise between Muslim outfits and the actor.

Petitioner C Jebakumar George, an advocate, had stated that he had watched the film in Thiruvananthapuram and found many scenes to be "very violent and derogative of the religions and races".

He had sought a direction to authorities to issue a ban on the film in the present form across the country, unless and until it was edited to be in conformity with guidelines XII and XIII of the Cinematograph Act.

The multilingual film, made in Tamil, Hindu and Telugu, has already been released outside Tamil Nadu where the screening is scheduled for the release on February 7.

Vishwaroopam is an action-thriller directed by Kamal Hassan himself. The film is produced by his brother Charu Hassan and it is made with the budget of Rs 95 crores. The film also features Pooja Kumar, Rahul Bose and Andrea Jeremiah in the important roles.

PTI