The U/A certificate was issued to
Vishwaroopam without any
application of mind,” claimed the Tamil Nadu government in the Madras
High Court, defending the ban on the film. What’s more, it alleged that
the certification of films itself was a “very big scam that required a
full-fledged probe”.
The judge did not find merit in the argument and allowed an interim
release late on the night of 29 January. In less than 24 hours, the
release was stayed again after the Tamil Nadu government appealed
against it. Kamal Haasan, who has written, produced and directed
Vishwaroopam, besides playing the lead role in it, could now approach
the Supreme Court.
The strong words used by the government’s counsel, however, point to a
larger motive behind the J Jayalalithaa government preventing Kamal
Haasan from entertaining his fans on the big screen in Tamil Nadu.
Kamal, who pledged all his property to fund Vishwaroopam, says he along
with his “Muslim brothers” have been “trashed in a political game”. Even
though he says he does not know who is behind it, it’s not difficult to
guess who Kamal is hinting at.
Political analyst Gnani Sankaran says, “Jayalalithaa is trying to
corner the Muslim votes with General Elections a year away. By attacking
the censor board, a statutory body, she is actually belittling the
Centre, taking her antagonistic stand against the upa a step further.
She is using this opportunity to show that the Central government is
insensitive to Muslim concerns. But I doubt if such steps will
actually help anyone politically because the average movie buff knows
it is just a film.”
The others have been no better. The same desire to pander to the
Muslim constituency made even the dmk suggest to Kamal that he should
work out a compromise with the Muslim outfits. The Central Board of Film
Certification Chairperson Leela Samson has said the film was “certified
with due diligence”, and described the government’s arguments as
“misinformed” and the expressions used in court “deplorable”.
Those who have watched the film (including this writer) in states
other than Tamil Nadu, have found nothing in the film that should offend
the sensibilities of Indian Muslims. Vishwaroopam has been running to
packed houses in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, both states with a
significant Muslim population, and there has been no breakdown of law
and order.
In contrast, by taking the interim stay as an affront and going in
appeal against the order, the Tamil Nadu government makes one wonder if
there is more to it than meets the eye. And the Muslim outfits’ claim
that the entire movie, save one song, is offensive, seems to be an
attempt to target Kamal deliberately.
“Are we living in China or North Korea?” asks lawyer and film critic L
Ravichander. “Yes, someone’s sentiment is hurt, but that is a woefully
inadequate reason to ban someone else’s work. In our films, the villain
could be called Ram or Rahman, what is the big deal? This way, no
creative pursuit — be it cinema or literature — can flourish. Anarchy
and protests also have their limits in a democracy.”
Vishwaroopam is the story of a Muslim RAW agent, who was once a
covert operative in the al Qaeda and later saves New York City from a
possible terror attack. The story is quite clear that the villainous
Muslims are those who are in the al Qaeda, while the Indian Muslim
(played by Kamal) is the hero of the film. The entire film is set in
Afghanistan and New York.
Muslim groups, however, feel that the al Qaeda terrorists shown
reading the Holy Quran would make people at large believe that all
Muslims are terrorists. Another objection is to the name ‘Umar’, which
the top terrorist (played by actor Rahul Bose) goes by. Muslim
organisations say Umar bin-al-Khattab is the name of the second Khalifa
in Islam, a revered figure, and the terrorist’s name should be changed.
But then the Taliban head is Mullah Omar and no one asked him to change
his name. Kamal has, however, agreed to make a few changes to find a
way out of the mess.
A PIL has also been admitted in the Andhra Pradesh High Court against
Vishwaroopam and one of the petitioners, Amjedullah Khan of a political
party called Majlis Bachao Tehreek in Hyderabad, says, “It is a
calculated move by the fascist Hindutva forces through their agents
like Kamal Haasan to influence innocent non-Muslims and mislead them
about Islam. It is an age-old strategy of anti-Muslim forces to portray
Islam in a bad light by indulging in blasphemy.”
Preposterous as it sounds to accuse Kamal — given his track record as
a brilliant filmmaker and a shrewd businessmen — of using his 95 crore
venture as a vehicle to propagate anti-Muslim propaganda, the fact
remains that either the Tamil Nadu government fell for such extreme
arguments hook, line and sinker, or used them to get at Kamal for
reasons no one is publicly willing to talk about.
Filmstars and politicians have always had an uneasy relationship in
Tamil Nadu, despite top politicians, including Jayalalithaa, DMK supremo
M Karunanidhi, and Vijayakanth, having their roots in Kollywood.
During the DMK regime, even top actors complained of being arm-twisted
by the production and distribution network controlled by the Karunanidhi
family. Actor Vijay, who owed allegiance to the AIADMK, had a tough
time getting his films released during the DMK years. Things have not
changed after the regime change with top comedian Vadivelu, who
campaigned for the DMK, finding his career screeching to a halt since
May 2011.
Little surprise then that conspiracy theories abound in Tamil Nadu.
One of the theories links the government’s decision to Kamal expressing a
desire at a public function in December last year to see a “dhoti-clad
Tamilian” (an apparent reference to P Chidambaram) as prime minister.
Given the frosty relationship between Jayalalithaa and Chidambaram,
there is speculation if this would have angered Amma. Karunanidhi did
not mince words when he told the media on 30 January that “Kamal
Haasan’s dhoti-clad PM remark may have caused Vishwaroopam to be
banned”.
Another unsubstantiated theory relates to Kamal selling the TV rights
to Vishwaroopam to Vijay TV, when Jaya TV was also reportedly in the
fray.
What is surprising is that barring Rajinikanth, Ajith, Prakash Raj
and Bharathiraja, no one from the Tamil film industry has come out in
Kamal’s support. Others like actors Khushboo, Jiiva and Jayam Ravi have
been tweeting their support, but for a legend of Kamal’s stature,
Kollywood has failed him. Clearly, very few want to get caught in this
battle between Kamal and the State.
Kamal, who upset the exhibitors with his plans to release
Vishwaroopam first on DTH, had to back off in the face of threats from
cinema theatres not to screen his film. But the ban and the charge that
the “unity of the country could be affected” by Vishwaroopam has been
the last straw. “MF Hussain had to leave, now Haasan will have to,” the
actor told the media, adding, “Tamil Nadu does not want me.”
One of Tamil Nadu’s most celebrated sons now wants to move out of the
state to a more “secular state” or even leave India, if it cannot
accommodate an artist like him. It’s shameful for Tamil Nadu as well as
India.
