WORLD IS WIDE: Vishwaroopam

Thursday, 3 January 2013

Vishwaroopam

Vishwaroopam is an upcoming Tamil-Hindi bilingual Indian spy thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Kamal Haasan that features himself in the lead role. The film, also has Pooja Kumar, Rahul Bose, Andrea Jeremiah and Jaideep Ahlawat in supporting roles. The soundtrack is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, with lyrics by Vairamuthu and Kamal Haasan for the Tamil and Javed Akhtar for the Hindi versions respectively. The film was shot with the same cast in both languages simultaneously, and is titled in Hindi as Vishwaroop.

Development of the project commenced after the release of Kamal's Manmadhan Ambu, and several of the crew were brought in from Hollywood. The direction department was taken over by Kamal Haasan from Selvaraghavan, and reports indicating a comparison with Hollywood films surfaced during the production. Due to delays, casting took a relatively long period of time, with several of the original cast dropping out of the project. The film was shot extensively overseas, in countries including the United States and Canada, while domestic locations included Chennai and Mumbai. It is the first Indian film, and second world film (after Red Tails) ever to be equipped with Auro 3D sound format. Vishwaroopam will be first of its kind to release on DTH platforms, on the concept of one time watch for mere

1,000 (US$18.2).

Music

Main article: Vishwaroopam (soundtrack)

Initially, Yuvan Shankar Raja was reported to compose the film's musical score.However, Kamal signed in the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy to compose music for the trilingual, making it his second collaboration with them after Aalavandhan. Lyricist Vairamuthu took charge of the lyrics of the songs in the film, after Kamal Haasan had approached him and narrated the entire plot, to which he immediately agreed to work upon. Javed Akhtar has penned lyrics for the Hindi version, while Ramajogayya Shastry has done the lyrics for the dubbed Telugu version. The audio was released on 7 December 2012.The telugu version of the audio was released on 30th December at Hyderabad.

Release

The makers planned the high-budget production to premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A special screening of the film was arranged for Hollywood-based producer Barrie M. Osborne and make-up artist Michael Westmore. Before release, it was reported to have been split into two parts, with each one having a separate release.

The first look poster and a teaser of the film were released on May Day 2012 as part of the film's marketing process. The poster consisted of Kamal Haasan wearing a green khaki jacket, with a flying pigeon and a skyline of a city consisting of several skyscrapers in the background. Snippets from the film were unveiled during the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend and awards in Singapore in June 2012, as the actor-director screened excerpts from the film, attracting critical acclaim. He also went on to reveal the synopsis of the film, mentioning that a sequel was already planned and several sequences had already been shot featuring Andrea Jeremiah in a more prominent role. A one minute trailer was released at the award ceremony, which saw Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar and Andrea take part in a press conference. The film's Tamil version was given a U/A (Parental Guidance) certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification with minor cuts, while the Hindi version Vishwaroop, got an "A" (Adults Only) certificate with no cuts. However, it was later announced that the Hindi version went through minor cuts to receive the U/A certificate. A third theatrical trailer (in Auro 3D) was released on November 7, coinciding with Haasan's birthday. It included a webcast of Kamal's speech via Skype. The film is releasing in 3,000 prints worldwide.While the movie would release in theatres on January 11, 2013, it will be premiered on 6 DTH players - Tata Sky, Airtel, Sun, Dish, Videocon & Reliance at 9:30pm on January 10, 2013 in Tamil, Telugu & Hindi.

Controversies

During post-production, the producers ran into conflict with the Hindu Makkal Katchi who claimed that title should be changed since Vishwaroopam was a Sanskrit word rather than a Tamil word. They argued that Kamal Haasan was being "anti-Tamil" by naming the film in another language. The same political party had also clashed with Kamal Haasan during the making of Virumaandi, Dasavathaaram and Manmadan Ambu.

Vishwaroopam was about to see its premiere on DTH platforms, wherein Haasan had roped in many DTH operators for the simultaneous release on DTH along with the theatrical release. However, it was later reported that the concept would be dropped after the Tamil Nadu theater organisations protested against such a television release. Reports again emerged that Hasaan is keen on releasing Vishwaroopam on DTH platform, stating "If only three percent of population in Tamil Nadu use DTH services, then how much loss can one show of my film possibly cause the producers or theatre owners?". He also added that it would be one time show, few hours before the film actually releases in theatres and would approximately cost

1,000 (US$18.2).

Vishwaroopam
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Kamal Haasan
Produced by	Chandra Haasan Kamal Haasan
Written by	Kamal Haasan Atul Tiwari
Starring	Kamal Haasan Pooja Kumar Andrea Jeremiah Rahul Bose Jaideep Ahlawat
Music by	Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Cinematography	Sanu Varghese
Editing by	Mahesh Narayanan
Studio	Raaj Kamal Films International
Release date(s)	11 January 2013
Country	India
Language	Tamil Hindi
Budget	95 crore (US$17.29 million)