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.

Ten avatars and tons of talent

Yes, it is about Kamal Hassan’s magnum opus Dasavadaram. The movie is just a showcase of talents of one of our best actors. No doubt, Kamal has given a stupendous performance to distinctly differentiate all the ten characters played by him. The make up,the dialogue delivery, modulation of different dialects are all done to perfection.

Still something is amiss in this great effort. It appears a conscious effort was made by Kamal to work for an international recognition. Apart from the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi audience World over, it is very evident he had targeted International viewers also.Seems he is yearning for an international acclaim, rightly so. With this in mind,all the 10 characters were selected by the script writer kamal. That could be one of the reasons that, four out of the 10 characters are foreign nationals, thus giving an international flavour. That has given him the scope to target the international audience and showcase his histrionic talents. As a result he has tailor made the story to suit his 10 characters. That has ended in a run of the mill story with usual stunts, car chasing and all other ingredients of a masala movie, unlike a Kamal film.

Kamal is an actor with great passion for innovation and doing something different in all his movies. On that score he has succeeded. Secondly, an actor playing 10 different characters in a movie is first of its kind in world cinema and is unique. We can be proud that something close to this feat was done by another great Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan decades ago in, Navaratri, donning nine roles. But that catered Tamil audiences only. Obviously Kamal wanted to better Sivaji’s record of nine roles. For commercial reasons he might have made it a trilingual film.

Kamal is a professed atheist. He does not want to antagonize millions of devout and piousViewers amidst his fans and the general public. So he has done a tight rope walk by making the characters talk, for and against religious beliefs and faiths. He has taken care to mouth the atheist dialogues himself, thus maintaining his atheist personal profile in tact. He has also made sure all three major religions of India, namely Hindus, Muslims and Christian characters are portrayed and their religious sentiments are not hurt by any of the dialogues.

The theme is about biological weapons, and might not be comprehensible to every viewer. Care was taken to start the story with a local 12^th century anecdote, rather than the Hollywood style alien scenes at US. To make the story travel to the present times from 12^th century and in many other places in the film, the script writer has to resort to voice over to explain the audience. It is a pity, Kamal has also succumbed to cheap gimmicks and has shown the ex Chief Minister and the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the movie. It is obvious many compromises have been made and care is taken not to antagonize any section.

The Rerecording by Devi Sree Prasad is good in patches, especially in the initial scenes and car chases shot in US. Otherwise there is nothing special to mention. Couple of songs by Reshmiah are good. Since Kamal is omnipresent in the movie, he has taken care to give lot of small roles to many others of note. Stars galore can also be witnessed in this film in a host of small roles. All of them have done justice to their roles.

On the whole it is a milestone movie in Kamal’s career and will find a place in record books of world cinema. Kamal has proved once again, he is an international cinema material. Given the hype created by the media , much more was expected .