When Kamal Haasan threatened to leave India due to ban on his film, it hurted sentiments of Muslims, he mortgaged his home to produce movie, it is...

In 2013, Kamal Haasan came up with his ambitious spy-thriller Vishwaroopam (Vishwaroop in Hindi). The movie is written-directed-produced by Kamal, and it was mounted on a huge scale. However, as soon as the first look and theatrical trailer of the film were dropped, the film garnered headlines due to the controversies that happened with the reaction of the masses. 

Vishwaroopam was subjected to various controversies. Against the backdrop of a war-torn Afghanistan, the portrayal of Muslims grabbed eyeballs. Islamic organizations had demanded that the film should be screened before its release, expressing concern over the depiction of the community in the film.

Kamal organised a special screening of the film for Islamic communities. As per the reports, the screening of the film was put on hold for 15 days by the government of Tamil Nadu under Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code, due to persistent allegations made by Islamic organisations, including the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham. 

Vishwaroopam was banned in Tamil Nadu, despite getting clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Kamal went to the Madras High Court, seeking a rollback of the government ban, but the verdict was pushed twice.

Watch the superhit scene from Vishwaroopam

For Viishwaroopam, Kamal reportedly mortgaged his home. Due to the ban on the film, a disappointed, frustrated Kamal held a press conference at his Alwarpet home and made a bold statement, "If one movie is threatening the unity of the country, then I say here, take my property, I earned all of it from cinema." He went on to say, "I don’t think they want me here. I will look at all the states from Kashmir to Kerala, excluding Tamil Nadu. If I don't find one which is secular, I will leave for another country. MF Husain had to leave, and now Haasan will also leave." 

The protestor group demanded a cut of around nine minutes of the film.  A mutual agreement was finally settled on 2 February 2013, when Haasan agreed to mute five scenes. After much struggle, Vishwaroopam was finally released in Tamil Nadu on February 7, 2013. Though the film got delayed, it became a blockbuster at the box office. A sequel, Vishwaroopam 2, was also released in 2018, but it failed. 

Years after Vishwaroopam, Kamal is now facing another ban ahead of his new film, Thug Life. Kamal's film won't be released in Karnataka until he apologises for his remark. Will Kamal overcome this major hurdle once again?