The second part of actor Kamal Haasan's magnum opus has finally released today. As the film hits the box office, here are some details of the series to catch up on:
The film was planned to be a remake of the Anthony Hopkins' psychological thriller 'Hannibal', helmed by Selvaraghavan. The Hollywood film was based on a serial killer called Hannibal Lecter, who is also a cannibal. In 2011, Selvaraghavan was removed from the project and it was later announced that the film would be a thriller similar to Mission Impossible.
The flashback scenes are set in Afghanistan, but were shot in Chennai, at the grounds of an engineering college.
Kamal's character Wisam Ahmen Kashmiri is shown as a Kathak dance teacher named Vishwanath at the beginning of the movie. This is similar to a part of Mahabharata, where Arjuna disguises as a dance teacher for princess Uttara. This popular scene comes almost 6 and a half minutes into the film. The dance sequence for this scene (and for the dance scene in the sequel) was choreographed by Pandit Birju Maharaj, a popular Kathak artiste.
Vishwaroopam won the Best Art Direction and Best Choreography at the 60th National Film Awards.
Controversies before the release of Vishwaroopam:
Kamal considered releasing the film as a direct-to-home premiere, but theatre owners protested this fearing loss of revenue.
The film faced backlash from several Islamic groups including Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam who opposed the release of the movie fearing it showed Muslims in a bad light. While Kamal arranged for a special screening for the Muslim groups to sort the matter, the Tamil Nadu government put the screening on hold under Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code.
After all the controversies surrounding his movie, Kamal Haasan said that he would be forced to leave the country because he was "fed up at being played around in a dirty political game."
Finally, the movie released worldwide on February 1, 2013, except Tamil Nadu. The ban on the film in Tamil Nadu was removed on February 3rd.
What to expect from the part 2:
Towards the end of the 2013 film, it is pretty clear that the second part would be based in India.
From the first part we got a glimpse of who Wisam Ahmen Kashmiri is. But we still don't know enough about Andrea Jeremiah's character, Ashmita Subramaniam. The promising trailer shows that Vishwaroopam 2 will fill in more details about her.
A glimpse of Waheeda Rehman, a veteran actress, was seen in the trailer, but her part in the film is still unknown.
While this sequel will be a massive hit as expected, Kamal has emphasised on winding up projects to focus on politics. In a recent interview with express, he said, "I think I’d like for Vishwaroopam II to be among my last films, because I have work to do. I’ll do these last few films I’ve already committed to because I need money for myself and the party."