Kamal Haasan’s ‘Uttama Villain’ finally hits screens

While his earlier film “Vishwaroopam” faced threats from Muslims opposed to portrayal of their community in the thriller, opposition from VHP and financial disputes threatened to derail his latest release.

It got some relief when a court here declined to stay the film on VHP’s plea that it hurt Hindu sentiments but 11th hour pre-release financial dispute threw up a roadblock to the Ramesh Aravind-directed film.

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SIAA President R Sarathkumar later told reporters that theatres have been directed to screen the movie and it will be released in 400 screens across the state.

“We as a family sat together and held discussions to ensure that all ended well. I thank the co-operation extended by producer KE Gnanavelraja, Madurai Anbu (financier) and Kamal Haasan’s brother Chandra Haasan. They went out of their way to put an end to the whole issue,” he said.

He denied speculations that there was political interference against the film’s release.

Director N Lingusamy, who had produced the film under the ‘Tirupathi Brothers’ banner, apologised for the delay in the release of the movie.

With reports emanating that the movie finally cleared all the hurdles, fans started pouring into theatres with smiles and relief on their faces.

Social networking sites were abuzz with the release of the movie, with scores of persons on Facebook and Twitter welcoming it.

“Uttama Villain” stars among others, Hassan’s mentor and veteran director K Balachander, Andrea, Pooja Kumar and Urvasi, Gibran has scored the music.

Meanwhile, the director of the film Ramesh Aravind recalled his experience directing Haasan, saying it took some effort on the two’s part to convince Balachander to star in the film.

Haasan, with whom Ramesh had acted in the hit comedy “Sathi Leelavathy”, had encouraged him to take to film making after coming across one of his Kannada ventures.

Balachander, in some of whose movies Aravind had acted, did not easily accept to don the role.

“However, when he saw the script, he was amazed,” and had words of praise for Haasan, who had co-written the film, he told a Tamil TV channel.

Dadasaheb Phalke recipient Balachander, known for his revolutionary scripts pertaining to society and women in particular, is not known to have featured in many films.

However, this film turned out to be his rare and last on-screen performance before he died in December 2014.