Kamal Absence At Tripartite Meet Stalls ‘Vishwaroopam’ Talks
Mega budget "Vishwaroopam" will remain in the cans for some more time in Tamil Nadu. It may be cleared for screening only after actor-director Kamal Haasan returns to Chennai for a meeting with Muslim organizations and the state government to resolve the deadlock.
The proposed meeting failed to take off on Friday with Muslim organizations reportedly insisting on the presence of the filmmaker. The government also wants Kamal to be there during the talks, informed sources said. "We want to settle the issue in a single sitting. If Kamal is available the meeting would be convened on Saturday," a senior official said.
Meanwhile, Kamal's brother and partner in Rajkamal films Chandra Haasan, along with Tamil Nadu Federation of Muslim Oganizations president 'Apollo' Mohammed Hanifa, met Tamil Nadu home secretary R Rajagopal at the state secretariat on Friday and submitted letters expressing willingness to take part in the discussions to settle the issue amicably.
Chief minister Jayalalithaa had on Thursday offered that her government would facilitate a meeting between Muslim groups and Kamal. But there was neither any sign of a meeting in the evening nor any word on it.
"We have handed over letters expressing our willingness to hold talks," Hanifa said. "We are waiting for the call from the government. We wish Kamal to be present during the meeting since he is the producer and director of the movie and will be the competent authority to take a final decision. We wish to finish the talks as soon as possible. We don't want to delay it."
The protesting Muslim leaders initially wanted to ban the movie and were unwilling to let the film release even with cuts. Later, though, Congress MP JM Haroon and a clutch of Muslim organizations agreed to four cuts. Subsequently, Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath also came forward to accept the release of "Vishwaroopam" with the relevant editing.
Kamal is expected to reach Chennai on Saturday. "He is in Mumbai for the release of the Hindi version of "Vishwaroopam" and has asked his brother to take part in the meeting," a close friend of Kamal said. "He also assigned two more people from his side for talks. Chandra Haasan has been waiting for a call from the government."
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