Govt. cites “law and order” reasons; movie scheduled to hit the screens tomorrow Hours ahead of its release, Kamal Haasan’s much-awaited...
Govt. cites “law and order” reasons; movie scheduled to hit the screens tomorrow
Citing ‘law and order’ reasons, the State government took a decision to empower District Collectors to invoke Section 144 of Cr.PC and restrain theatre owners from screening the movie on January 25. Commissioner of Police S. George issued an order directing theatre owners not to screen the film to ensure peace and public tranquillity. The prohibitory orders would be in force for a period of two weeks, highly placed police sources said.
The ban on screening the film came on a day the Madras High Court ruled that the State government had no power to prohibit plays or insist on prior police permission to stage them. A similar ban on The da Vinci Code was struck down by the High Court a few years ago.
Scheduled to hit the screens on Friday, tickets in many theatres across the State were sold out. The decision to ban Vishwaroopam was taken after a high-level meeting at the Secretariat here. The move also followed allegations made by some Muslim organisations that the movie portrayed their religion in poor light.
The Tamil Nadu government's move comes after Muslim organisations expressed fear that the "film could disturb communal harmony" after watching a show, specially screened for them, a few days ago.
But Kamal Haasan had time and again denied allegations that the movie is against Muslims. Recently the actor told NDTV "in fact after watching Muslims would love the movie".
The run up to Vishwaroopam's launch remains chequered. First the actor had to abandon his dream premier launch of the movie on Direct To Home (DTH) following opposition by theatre owners that the move would affect their revenues, after which Kamal Haasan decided to launch the film on DTH a week after theatrical release.
Jaya TV demands Satellite rights?
However, sources in the industry say there could be more than what meets eye in this development. Some say the real issue could be over the tussle for acquiring television rights of the movie.Refund issue
The original plan to release the film on January 11 was also hit after theatre owners objected to Kamal Haasan’s move to make it available on the Direct-to-Home platform first. “It is up to the theatre owners to decide on refund. We fear clashes between protesters and Kamal fans if the movie is released. Adequate security arrangements will be in place to prevent any untoward incident near movie halls,” a senior police official said.
Vishwaroopam is also planned for release in Telugu on January 25 and in Hindi on February 1. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath in a statement thanked State government for banning the film.
Comments
Post a Comment