Indian Express

Vishwaroopam row ends, Haasan agrees to seven cuts in all

Gopu Mohan Posted online: Sun Feb 03 2013, 01:56 hrs
Chennai : Filmmaker Kamal Haasan reached a settlement with leaders of Muslim organisations on Saturday after he agreed to seven visual and audio cuts in Vishwaroopam.

While he had agreed to four cuts earlier this week, Haasan is reported to have agreed to three more cuts at today’s meeting.

The compromise deal was worked out at a five-hour meeting convened by Tamil Nadu Home Secretary R Rajagopal between Haasan, who was accompanied by his brother and co-producer S Chandra Haasan, and the Muslim leaders. Haasan also agreed to withdraw his writ petition against the state government’s order to suspend the screening.

The 24-member Federation of Islamic Movements and Political Parties agreed to call off all protests against the film and withdraw cases against it. Its representatives said they had no “personal enmity” against Haasan, and would withdraw their petitions seeking a ban on the film. With this, the state government is expected to lift the temporary ban it imposed on the release of the film 10 days back.

“We will immediately consult the legal and technical matters and announce the release,” said Haasan, who has acted in, scripted, produced and directed the Rs 95-crore film, adding that the censor board would be informed about the changes made.

“We now expect the ban to be lifted soon, and will take measures to withdraw the petition filed against it,” he added.