New Extended Trailer For VISHWAROOP Gives A Look Behind The Scenes

It's been a long road to the screen for Kamal Hassan's Vishwaroop. The film has been gestating for what seems like ages and after its original director, Selvaraghavan, had to back out due to scheduling conflicts, Hassan himself took over the reins. That wasn't the end of their problems, though, as the crew was denied entry to the US for shooting at the last minute over visa issues, and had to move the production to Canada at the last minute. If only those were the only issues, but the challenge continues.

In his quest to ensure that his big gamble comes out on top, Kamal Hassan has also made some very unusual business deals in regards to the release of Vishwaroop. The most controversial of which was a plan to release the film on satellite pay-per-view in India day and date with the theatrical premiere. This has never been done before with such a high profile feature, and it caused such a ruckus in the industry that many Tamil theater chains immediately planned to boycott the film in retaliation. Talks of boycott have settled down, however, this is a huge gamble on the part of both the satellite companies and the theaters. Hassan comes out on top here, as he has secured the distribution contracts he wanted and his goal of clearing 100 crore rupees before the film hits a single screen looks pretty well achieved.

What remains to be seen is whether he can deliver the kind of film that is worth waiting a decade for. None of the trailers for Vishwaroop, up until this present version, have given the audience much to chew on, however we now have a little bit more to look forward to. Hassan plays at least two roles, that of an apparently homosexual dance instructor in a marriage of convenience, and the part of a military specialist on the tail of terrorists. The two threads appear to collide when the dance instructor is abducted by a sleeper cell at some point and the gay guy gets punched in the balls and face several times. At least that's what it looks like.

I have faith in Kamal Hassan, but so far little about this is really exciting, in spite of the action and music in the trailer begging me to believe otherwise. I guess we'll see when Vishwaroop hits cinema screens next month.