Before ‘Vishwaroopam 2’: A look at Kamal Haasan’s tumultuous journey during ‘Vishwaroopam’

‘Ulaganayagan’ Kamal Haasan is gearing up for the massive release of his upcoming espionage thriller ‘Vishwaroopam 2’, which is slated for a worldwide release on August 10. With just four days left for the release, the expectations that ‘Vishwaroopam 2’ has among the audience is huge. Ahead of the release of ‘Vishwaroopam 2’, we look at the roadblocks faced by Kamal Haasan during the release of the first part in 2013.

Before ‘Padmavaat’, there was 'Vishwaroopam’! It’s been five years since the first part hit the screens and nothing quite has changed in terms of the political landscape. After the release of the romantic comedy, ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ (2010), Kamal Haasan had announced his next big-budgeted venture under his banner Raajkamal Films International. Ever since the commencement of 'Vishwaroopam', the film ran into a lot of controversies, followed by a forced compromise at every juncture. Ace filmmaker Selvaraghavan was initially roped in to direct the film. However, Selvaraghavan backed out due to creative differences. Soon after that, Haasan took over the reins as the director for the fourth time after his terrific rural drama ‘Virumaandi’. It was decided that Raaj Kamal Films International will bankroll the project, which was made on a whopping budget of Rs 96 crore. ‘Vishwaroopam' was Kamal Haasan’s biggest release till then.

Since it was Kamal Haasan’s magnum opus, the star rigorously promoted ‘Vishwaroopam’, which created humongous hype among the audiences. The trailer was launched on YouTube, which received outstanding response from the netizens. Ahead of the release, the audio launch of ‘Vishwaroopam’ was conducted in places like Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai. Kamal Haasan also promoted the film in overseas market as well. Notably, the producer of ‘The Lord of The Rings’, Barry Osborne, raved about the film even before its release, which lead to further promotions for ‘Vishwaroopam’.

Ahead of the release, Kamal Haasan landed in another controversy after he planned to release 'Vishwaroopam' in the DTH platform. Long before the digital platforms, Haasan tried to explore the markets which eventually lead to stiff protest from theatre owners. It was Haasan’s whimsical take on third world politics and terrorism. It tells the story of a RAW agent, Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri (Kamal Haasan), masquerading as a Kathak dancer, Vishwanath. In a series of unwarranted incidents and through his wife Nirupama (Pooja Kumar), we come to know of Wisam’s past -- a Tamil jihad, an acquaintance of Omar Qureshi (Rahul Bose), leader of Al-Qaeda. It explores the relationship between Wisam and Omar who were arch rivals cut from the same cloth. The rest of 'Vishwaroopam' is a cat-and-mouse game between Wisam and Omar that was done in an extremely pompous fashion that made it one of the best thrillers to have come out of Tamil cinema.

A day ahead of the actual release of the film, 'Vishwaroopam' was banned across Tamil Nadu fearing ‘law and order issue’. It was subsequently banned in the overseas market thereby incurring heavy losses for the makers. Though it was widely perceived as an issue orchestrated by the Muslims, the fact remained that Haasan had a major fall out with then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who was reportedly said to have played a major role in the entire fiasco. Despite getting a ‘U/A’ certificate from the CBFC, the ruling state government imposed a ban on 'Vishwaroopam'. Soon enough, Kamal Haasan unwillingly became a pawn in what could’ve been apparently perceived as a game of politics. So much so that he threatened to leave the country. It was only after Haasan’s emotional outburst that the Tamil film industry rallied behind the actor.

'Vishwaroopam', which was initially planned to premiere at the Cannes Festival, finally saw the light of the day on February 7, and the rest, as it is rightly said, is history. It was unanimously hailed by the critics and was equally appreciated for its performance and screenplay. Made on a whopping budget of Rs 96 crore, the film ran to packed houses, especially in the international market. 'Vishwaroopam' became a money spinner at the box-office and went on to gross over Rs 220 crore worldwide. Last year, in an interview to a Tamil channel, Kamal Haasan revealed that the delay in release incurred him Rs 60 crore. Even after all these years, the memories of 'Vishwaroopam' are still afresh for the right reasons. After five years, ‘Vishwaroopam 2’ is now slated to hit the screens this Friday.