NEWS STORIES

Kamal Haasan’s appeal against the stay order preventing the release of Vishwaroopam tomorrow, has turned out in his favor according to unconfirmed sources within the Madras High Court. This means that the movie would now be releasing as planned from tomorrow onwards.

Judge Venkatraman has been chairing this hearing for close to three hours after the commencement at around 1 30 pm today. The lawyers who were arguing in favor of the government said that this is a similar case to the movie Dam 999 about the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. The High Court had earlier dismissed a petition seeking an overturn on the ban of this film.

Kamal’s lawyers argued back asking for any specific scene or dialogue in Vishwaroopam which was the bone of their contention. To this, the lawyers arguing in favor of the government didn’t have a proper riposte. Also, Kamal’s lawyers debated that when people in Qatar and Malaysia didn’t have any issue with the movie post the release in these countries, why did Tamil Nadu have to be an exception.  

Kamal’s brother Chandra Haasan has been representing Kamal and this decision should come as a major relief for the Haasan camp as well as the millions of fans who are eagerly waiting for the release of Vishwaroopam.

When the judge proposed to Kamal’s camp if they can consider postponing the release of their film to 27^th, considering the police’s concerns regarding law and order, Kamal’s side was said to be very stubborn and wanted to carry on with their earlier planned date of 25^th. Both the parties have been very stubborn with their arguments and viewpoints, we hear.

On the whole, the expectations and hype have surely shot up since last evening when news of the ban first started leaking in.

Update:

We learn that the case is still being fought hard in the judge's chamber at the moment and one of the key points of the argument from Kamal's side is that a film that has been cleared by the Censor Board cannot be disrupted by a lower court, and it would be along the lines of over-ruling a Supreme court judgement. With regard to the law and order problems that the Police fears, Kamal's lawyers say that it's the Government's duty to ensure that no such unlawful incidents occur under any circumstance.

An official announcement of this judgment is expected anytime soon.