Aamir Khan’s Sorry To Kamal Haasan

Amir Khan is always in the news for some reason or the other. Whether social causes or his versatility as an actor, Mr. Perfectionist truly inspires those around him. Yet another dimension of his personality that is admired is the actor’s honest and down to earth attitude. He attended FICCI Frames 2015 held at Powai and Kamal Haasan was present as well. The latter occupied the front row and was surprised to hear an apology from Aamir.

After the inauguration at Renaissance Hotel, this is what the ‘PK’ actor had to say- "I take this opportunity to apologise to you, Mr Kamal Haasan, for not standing by you when your film was banned in 2013. I was so lost in work and I didn’t realise it at that time. But I think we all filmmakers should stand by each other in such cases and I should have supported you during those trying times." Kamal Haasan accepted the apology with a smile.

The 2013 Tamil thriller ‘Vishwaroopam’ was surrounded by controversies because of the way it depicted Muslims. Muslim civic organizations of Tamil Nadu had demanded that the film be banned. MLA and the president of the organization Prof. Jawaharullah felt that the movie was "basically a hate documentary which propagates animosity by portraying certain happenings in negative way". He further explained why he was offended by ‘Vishwaroopam’- "In the whole movie in the background Quranic verses are recited during bloodbath violent scenes. In the movie Islam is shown as a barbaric religion which encourages throat slitting and public executions. And it is also shown that main villain considers Tamil Muslims as sympathizers and assets of militants in Afghanistan. Coimbatore is taken intentionally in the scene due to the Coimbatore blasts whose wounds are still fresh in the minds of Tamilians."

Central Board of Film Certification of India gave green light to the film. But then, district collectors in Tamil Nadu instructed theatre owners to not show the movie as law and order issues might arise. But ‘Vishwaroopam’ was released in other states, and that too those ones with more Muslim population as compared to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha too was against the film.

Coming to B-town, big names like Mahesh Bhatt supported Haasan. Kamal was disheartened with the controversies and said that he was "fed up at being played around in a dirty political game". The national loss due to all these controversies amounted to a whopping Rs 600 million.