TN home secy meets Haasan's brother, Muslims
The Tamil Nadu home secretary on Friday met actor Kamal Haasan's brother Chandra Haasan and representatives of Muslim groups who have opined that Kamal's film Vishwaroopam has elements which are offensive to their community.
The Tamil Nadu home secretary on Friday met actor Kamal Haasan's brother Chandra Haasan and representatives of Muslim groups who have opined that Kamal's film Vishwaroopam has elements which are offensive to their community.
The meeting, which is aimed at finding a solution to end the standoff, has ended and the two parties will meet formally at 6pm.The meeting will be facilitated by the Tamil Nadu government.
Actor Kamal Haasan had said on Thursday that he will hold talks with the protesting groups to find a solution.
Kamal Haasan and Muslim leaders will decide what cuts should be made to the film so that theatres could screen it in Tamil Nadu.
Both parties agreed to sit and discuss the matter after Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday said her government would release his film if Kamal Haasan could reach an amicable solution with the protesting groups.
Meanwhile, the Hindi vesion of the film released in theatres elsewhere across India. The good news for Hassan is that the film has been released in UP, according to media reports. On Thursday, ruling Samajwadi party in UP had said that if the film was found to contain offensive elements against Muslims then they will ban it in the state.
The controversy surrounding Haasan's multilingual film Vishwaroopam refused to die down on Thursday, with the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government locking horns over who held the rights to ban the film.
While the Centre invoked the Constitution, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said she had acted in the best interests of the state and even cited the regulation that empowered the state government to ban a film.
Vishwaroopam, a mega spy thriller was banned after certain Muslims groups objected to the film, saying it depicted Muslims as terrorists.
On Thursday, in an early-morning tweet the information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari, suggested that the cinematograph act needed a re-look or else "each state would be its own censor".
By afternoon, Tewari's ministry swung into action, ordering a committee to undertake a full review of the act.