Viswaroopam embroiled in a tangle

Viswaroopam,Kamal Hassan's movie was slated for release on Jan 25th.Earlier the film was slated to be pre-released in DTH before theatrical release on Jan 10th. But Kamal had to  defer the release due to protests from theater owners.Now the film faces a two week's ban imposed by TN government.TN government feels the release of the film could create Law and order issues.The government move is in response to the representations made by few Muslim organisations.Kamal Hassan arranged for a special premiere show for these Muslim organisations to allay their fears that Viswaroopam has content that is derogatory to Muslims or Islam .But Kamal's move has boomeranged on him,quite unexpectedly.Even before the premiere show, the actor reportedly said the Muslims would find nothing disparaging in the movie and they would invite him for biriani lunch on the Id e Milad Prophet Muhamed's birthday,which falls on Jan 24th .Ironically based on the representations of the Muslim organisations TN govt imposed the ban for the film on Jan 24th ,citing law and order issues. On a writ petition filed by Kamal,the Madras HC has banned the movie till Jan 28,when the judge would watch the movie with aggrieved parties and pass a judgement .

Earlier Muslim organisations demanded removal of certain scenes from Vijay starrer "Thuppakki" on the same ground. The Producer had to conciliate with representatives of Muslim organisations and remove objectionable scenes/dialogues.I also saw the movie and did not find anything objectionable.The general perception of these moral policing groups are that Muslims are portrayed as terrorists.The film content does not say all Muslims are terrorists.It is unfortunate that these groups fail to notice that among those fighting the terrorists,along with the hero,there was a Muslim character in the film "Thuppakki".On the ban of his film Kamal has commented "I am appalled,hurt and my sensibilites are insulted " .He still maintains this film is the most Muslim fiendly film he has seen .He says "any neutral and patriotic Muslim will surely feel pride on seeing my film".But Muslim organisations who have seen the film feels otherwise. One can comment on this only after seeing the film .

But the moot point is, the CBFC has cleared this film.All three versions ,Tamil,Telugu and Hindi have been certified by CBFC.When the CBFC has cleared the film can a state government ban the film on other grounds? .Dam 999 a film purportedly made on Mullaiperiyar issue was banned by the TN government.Incidentally, today SC has upheld the ban and refused to lift the ban on this film.So no one knows what could be in store for Viswaroopam. Kamal has called this as "cultural terrorism " and this must be stopped.

I feel, of late moral policing is on the increase.Political compulsions make political parties to support them.This in turn reflects how intolerant we are as a nation.Every artist or writer has a creative vision. It should not be curbed.Whatever a film maker does is only to strenghten his story and narration.Alongside creative freedom comes the social responsibility . Kamal says he "knows his responsibility  as a film maker " .We should respect his creative liberty. We are world's largest democracy .We are known for our pluralism .But the intolerance exhibited by some groups would erode the values of our pluralism.The protests should not be made for political gains .In the creative front we are becoming increasingly intolerant. Salman Rushdie was forced to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival.Taslima Nasreen was forced to cancel her visit to Kolkatta.Aseem Trivedi a cartoonist was charged with treason.The U.S consulate  in Chennai was attacked by a political outfit,not long ago for an anti-Islamic movie made in U.S.TN government has banned movies on three earlier occasions also."Ore Oru Gramathile " was banned in 1987.Da vinci code was banned in 2006.Dam 999 was banned in 2011.Aarakshan an Amitabh starrer about reservation policy was banned in UP,Andhra and Punjab in 2011.

The film fraternity is backing Kamal Hassan against the ban imposed by the TN government.We do not know what would be the outcome of the writ petition filed by Kamal Hassan for lifting the ban on his film.But I was impressed by his moderate comments about the ban. Kamal is part of an organisation called 'Harmony India' which works for  Hindu Muslim Amity.He also said "I have always gone beyond the call of my duty as an actor to voice my opinion in favor  of what is humane and civil." If  Viswaroopam can testify this statement of Kamal,I am sure the ban will be lifted.

Mullaiperiyar issue

 The issue is blown to the present level by politicians of both the states.The release of the movie 'dam 999' has raised the heat ,with people coming to the streets in Kerala and protester's tempers running high .TN politicians are planning to retaliate by stirs in TN side .Before it snowballs in to a big issue,the politicians on either side  should stop playing to the gallery and resolve, an essentially technical issue on purely technical grounds and not based on parochial agenda. I wrote a post on the effects of screening the dam 999 movie as early as December 1,2009 in my post called Dam 999.As stated in my post then ,the question of the dam withstanding tremors or the increased water level to 152 feet is a technical issue.It should be left to dispassionate experts .Impartial experts can throw light on the safety of the dam and allay the fears of the people living in Kerala.Alternatively if Kerala's fear's of a dam collapse is foreseen  by experts ,the best technical brains in the nation can come together and suggest ways and means to overcome that and come to an amicable solution acceptable to both the sides.

I happened to watch two video's produced by some engineers of TN giving lot of technical inputs that have gone in to the reinforcement of the dam .Both the videos have voice over in Tamil with English subtitles.The video has also traced the brief history that led to the construction of the dam years ago.I am not an expert to comment on the technical aspects shown in the video,but it was very informative .I have given below links to both the videos.Interestingly the second video's concluding part has few suggestions and a way out for the imborglio.

 http://www.vinavu.com/2011/12/01/mullai-periyar-video/

http://www.vinavu.com/2011/12/01/mullai-periyar-video/

In my post  India in retrospect,I mentioned last year "The conflict between states about sharing river waters across state boundaries needs to be resolved without delay.This could very well become a serious issue in the years ahead.The inter state disputes ACT has not helped to resolve these issues.This should not become the cause for political instability and civic discords."

One earnestly hopes better sense would prevail among politicians of TN and Kerala and the issue would be resolved amicably and people of both the states would remain well-disposed to each other for ever.

Dam 999

Dam 999 is the title of a Malyalam movie under production.This movie is a Hollywood-Mollywood production on Mullai periyar .This dam was built by Britishers and the dam was leased out for 999 years to the then Madras Presidency by the Britishers. The 999 in the film title refers to the 999 years lease.After Independence when States were reorganised on linguistic basis the dam site became part of Kerala.This film is produced by a Dubai based business man Sohan Roy. He is also directing the movie .If one goes by the press reports and the interview of Mr.Roy, the movie is likely to portray the Kerala stand on the Mullaiperiyar row.The Kerala government stand is that the dam is not safe and increasing water levels would jeopardise the lives of those living in the down stream districts of kerala.The matter is subjudice.At this point,a film on this issue should not create unnecessary controversies.People who matter,at the helm in both states should earnestly try to resolve the issue sans political bias and narrow prejudices.The whole controversy is not about sharing the river water,but is about increasing the storage level of the reservoir.To my mind it is an absolute technical point.There can not be two sides to this issue.There could be only one fact.Tamil nadu demands increase in storage levels based on supreme courts order.Kerala continues to maintain,the dam is weak and if the storage levels are increased it could be disasterous and catastrophical.It is very unfortunate the technical people on both states are also taking sides and not coming out with the true position of the dam.The experts committee on technical feasiblility says storage levels can be increased since repair works have been carried out by Tmailnadu. But the Kerala earth science experts say the area where the dam is situated is prone to earthquakes and the dam can not withstand an earth quake.It is also true this area has experienced several tremors for some time.It is slowly snowballing in to an emotive issue.

Farming groups on the Tamilnadu side is giving pressure to the Tamilnadu government since irrigation and drinking water needs of the five rain shadow districts of Tamilnadu depends solely on the water release from Mullaiperiyar.Vast areas of land have already become barren and more than 8000 hectares of land went dry.It is high time politicians on both sides stop playing to the gallery and address the real issue with a view to resolve the issue rather than prolonging it by legal wrangles and litigations.It is very deplorable that all such issues between states are looked upon with a hidden regional and parochial agenda by those in power.This approach can never solve issues of this sort.Don't we have technical expertise to resolve an essentially technical issue? What prevents us from doing that?.The answer is dirty politics.One sincerly hopes better sense would prevail among our politicians of both states and would soon find ways to come out of this tangle.Let not Dam 999 producers complicate the issue and make it complex by projecting the consequences of a dam break in their movie.