Kamal Haasan to remove scenes offensive to Muslims in Vishwaroopam

NEW DELHI // Indian movie star Kamal Haasan has reached a settlement with Muslim organisations in southern India and agreed to delete seven scenes from his latest spy thriller, Indian media reported yesterday.

The Tamil Nadu government had banned Mr Haasan's film Vishwaroopam in the state following protests from several Muslim groups objecting to the film's portrayal of Islam.

Mr Haasan and Muslim leaders reached an agreement on Saturday after more than five hours of talks. No details emerged of what seven scenes were cut.

The controversial Indian film is not being shown in UAE cinemas. Jumaa Leem, director of media content for the National Media Council (NMC), said the Tamil film will not be shown here because it "links Islam with terrorism".

Mr Haasan is the producer, director and star of the film, which was released abroad and in some Indian states on January 25. The spy-thriller has been well received in states where it has been released and has earned favourable reviews from critics.

The film has been made in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages.

It had been cleared by India's Censor Board before Muslim groups raised objections to some scenes prompting the Tamil Nadu government's ban. That decision was followed by similar bans on the film in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The film is expected to be released in Tamil Nadu as early as Friday.

Islamic groups have promised to call off their protests against the film and withdraw legal cases that they have filed against the filmmaker.