Vishwaroopam row ends, Kamal Hassan, Muslim groups reach accord

"In the talks with my Muslim brothers, I heard their grievances and explained technical problems. The censor board would be informed," he said on the mutually accepted cuts.

The talks were to be held yesterday but did not materialise as the Muslim organisations insisted on the presence of Haasan who was in Mumbai for the release of the film's Hindi version.

A spy thriller set in the US and Afghanistan with the plot centring around terror, the film hit the first roadblock after tech-savvy actor's faceoff with exhibitors over his insistence on releasing it on Direct-to-Home platform a day ahead of the theatre release, forcing him to put it off indefinitely.

Another hurdle came when Muslim outfits expressed apprehensions over the content of the film and sought a preview for them, which the actor obliged but failed to win their nod leading to the government's ban on grounds of law and order problems.

Haasan took the battle to the court challenging the ban and got a relief with a single judge allowing its release, but it was shortlived as a division bench on an appeal by the government struck it down.

The case is coming up on February 6 for hearing before the single judge to whom the division bench reverted the matter.

Anguished and hurt, a 'fed up' Haasan threatened 'self-exile' to move to a 'secular place' in the country excluding Tamil Nadu, or overseas as done by late painter M F Hussain following oppposition by right wing groups to his nude paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses.

As Haasan spoke of 'cultural terrorism' and poured out his heart explaining pledging of his entire property to make the film, support flowed for him from the film industry in Tamil Nadu and Bollywood as also the Centre which questioned the state government's ban after the censor board's clearance.

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