Madras High Court Upheld Ban on Vishwaroopam in Tamil Nadu

Madras High Court on 30 January 2013, in the evening upheld the ban on Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam in Tamil Nadu till 6 February 2013. An order passed on by Justice K. Venkataraman to lift the ban was later nullified by the two-member bench comprising of Acting chief justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Aruna Jagadeesan.

After the ban was lifted by the Madras High Court on 29 January 2013 in the morning, Vishwaroopam was released in Tamil Nadu in certain screens. The theaters were however also attacked by some unidentified people.

Originally the film was scheduled to be released on 25 January 2013.
 
Islamic protests leading to banning

•Certain Islamic organisations demanded that film should be screened to them before the release on the grounds that the Muslim community was depicted in a negative light in the movie.
•Kamaal Hassan had also organised special screening for them.
•However, the film screening was curtailed for 15 days by Tamil Nadu government under Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code because of allegations by certain Islamic organisations.
•Eventually the matter was brought to the Madras High Court seeking rollback of the ban on the grounds that Vishwaroopam was approved by the Central Board of Film Certification.
•The ban was rolled back by the Madras High Court on 29 January 2013.
•On 30 January 2013, however, the ban was upheld by the High Court once again.