"Vishwaroopam" Re-Released Tuesday

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry (KDN) has allowed the screening of the controversial Tamil film "Vishwaroopam" from Tuesday. Film Censorship Board (LPF) chairman Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap in a statement Tuesday said the green light was given after the movie distributor adhered to all the conditions set by the board including additional cuts on the film. The film, directed and acted by Kamal Hassan, began playing throughout the country on Jan 24 but screening stopped on the second day by KDN as it was said to touch on Muslim sensitivity. Raja Azahar said the KDN issued the order to postpone screening the film on Jan 25 for a review after receiving complaints from Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGO) especially those representing the Indian Muslims. He said the KDN also received protest letters from the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) and the Federation of Malaysian Indian Muslim Associations (Permim) calling for the film to be reviewed and be censored of scenes deemed sensitive to Islam. Subsequently, he said a special panel comprising board members and the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) was set up in which two sessions of discussion were held to re-evaluate the film. "Jakim through it director-general (Othman Mustapha) agreed with KDN to allow the film to be screened again after cuts were made by LPF," he said. Raja Azahar said the KDN took the initiative to meet the film distributor, Lotus Five Star AV (M) Sdn Bhd and the NGO representing Indian Muslims before that. "Through the meeting, a consensus was achieved for the film to continue its run with some scenes touching on the sensitivity of religion censored," he said. -- BERNAMA