Actors struggled to release films in Tamil Nadu in 2013

Actors Kamal Haasan and John Abraham found themselves sailing in the same boat in 2013 when different outfits threatened to stop the release of their films raising objections to on-screen portrayal of certain aspects they were not in agreement with.
Veteran Kamal Haasan's emotional outburst of being forced to leave the country over his 'Vishwaroopam' release struggles sent shockwaves across India even as Abraham's 'Madras Cafe' raised eyebrows in south over its portrayal of LTTE.
What started in December 2012 as a commercial face-off with distributors over his decision to release 'Vishwaroopam' on Direct-to-Home platform also, Haasan's struggles later assumed religious proportions with Muslim groups opposing the depiction of their community in the film on terrorism.

Haasan earned the ire of groups over the depiction of Islam in his trilingual film, with the state government finally banning the movie, paving the way for a legal battle.
A Madras High Court Division Bench set aside a single judge's decision of lifting the ban on the Rs 100 crore movie, even as a political controversy erupted over the actor's remarks made in a function attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of a Tamil becoming Prime Minister.
Sparks flew as DMK chief M Karunanidhi expressed doubts if Haasan's remarks had anything to do with the ban by the ruling AIADMK, prompting its leader and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to strongly deny any personal grudge against the national-award-winning actor.

Ruling out enough manpower in the police department to provide security to theatres screening the movie, she reasoned that government's ban was based on intelligence inputs.

The government, however, later played the peacemaker between Haasan and Muslim representatives, and a decision to delete a few scenes ensured that audience in Tamil Nadu could watch the movie finally.
The episode brought back memories of Haasan facing a similar situation in 2003-04, when he was forced to change the title of his film as 'Virumaandi' by some local groups.
The film was initially named 'Sandiyar' but a small political outfit threatened to disrupt its shooting in Theni district citing the casteist overtones of the title.