VISITOR COLUMN

As we all know in India, there is one big controversial topic that is constantly making headlines and that is the temporary ban of Kamal Hassan's mammoth and ambitious project, Viswaroopam. The movie has been given a green light by the Film Censor Board, but has been banned for the time being by the Tamil Nadu government as the movie may be perceived to have scenes that could hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community. Support has been pouring from various parts of India which encompass diehard fans, Kollywood and Bollywood film fraternities. The movie has been released in other parts of the world like Australia, USA and UK and has received positive response from the audience and thus witnessed excellent box office collections. Kamal Hassan has lost a substantial amount of money due to the delay in the release of the movie and what is sad is that he has mortgaged both his house and properties at the expense of the movie. As a result, Kamal has plans to leave Tamil Nadu or India to seek a better settlement location, due to the frustration in not getting the movie to release in the state as a substantial amount of his market is centred there.

One can ask if he is crazy or even stupid to make all these sacrifices in the name of cinema. Kamal has been in the Tamil film industry for over 50 years when he started acting as a child artist. He has donned various roles and hence is famous for his versatility. Kamal has made so many sacrifices in his life and from his recent interview, he has broken 39 bones. He does not use a dupe to perform stunts and this is evident in his movies. We all know of Kamal as a film maker who dares to do different things and his films are a testimony of his achievements. He not only depicts different characters, but his movies have a social and valuable message. Unfortunately some parts of India, especially Tamil Nadu, have objected to this and hence earning Kamal the title 'controversy of Tamil film industry'. Examples of films that have invited controversy include Devar Magan, Virumandi, Mumbai Express, Dasavatharam, Manmadhan Ambu and recently Viswaroopam.

One can question why is he doing all this? What is his motive? Little do we know that Kamal is pushing Tamil cinema to greater heights and wants to show to India and the rest of the world that Tamil cinema too can produce quality cinema as can be seen in the fraternity’s dominance in National Awards. It is sad to see that a person who is continuously working hard to make Tamil cinema proud going through a hard time currently due to the ban of his movie. I hope and pray that he gets his justice and his fans get to see and enjoy the movie along with other members of the film industry.

He has gone through emotional, political, personal and financial hardships and I strongly feel it is our job as educated and responsible people in society to support him.