Vishwaroopam (titled Vishwaroop in Hindi; ) is a 2013 Indian spy action thriller film co-written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also stars in the lead role. The film also stars Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Nassar and Jaideep Ahlawat in supporting roles. The film was shot simultaneously in both Tamil and Hindi.
The script was written by Kamal Hassan, Chakri Toleti and Atul Tiwari and is set in New York City, where Nirupama, an ambitious nuclear scientist, marries an effeminate coward classical dancer, Viswanathan. On being suspicious of his behaviour, she hires a detective and in turn gets entangled with a terrorist cell, revealing his true identity and past. The film features soundtrack composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with the Tamil lyrics written by Vairamuthu and Haasan himself, while Javed Akhtar translated them for the Hindi version.
Development of the project began after the release of Haasan's Manmadan Ambu (2010) when several of the crew were brought in from the United States to lend their technical expertise. The direction was taken over by Kamal Haasan from Selvaraghavan and reports indicating comparison with several English films surfaced during the production. The first teaser was revealed in April 2012 and the first theatrical trailer was revealed in June 2012. Vishwaroopam is the first Indian film to utilise the new Auro 3D sound technology. The film was also to be the first Indian film to release via direct-broadcast satellite, also known as direct-to-home (DTH), but after protests of theatre owners this plan was dropped. The film was released worldwide, excluding Tamil Nadu, on 25 January 2013 and was released in Tamil Nadu on 7 February 2013. The Hindi version was released on 1 February 2013.
Legal controversies, regarding the film's plot of India's foreign intelligence service Research and Analysis Wing's participation in America's war on terror after the 9/11 attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda, arose as several Muslim civic organisations protested the film's release in Tamil Nadu, resulting in an official ban being imposed on the film in the state for 15 days by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The ban resulted in similar decisions in major overseas markets like Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore while release was delayed in the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Heeding the requests of Muslim civic organisations, controversial scenes were muted or morphed, allowing the film to be released on 7 February 2013 in Tamil Nadu. Despite the fragmented and delayed releases, Vishwaroopam garnered positive reviews and grossed 220 crore( million) worldwide. The film became only the third Tamil movie to surpass 200 crore worldwide gross after Dasavatharam and Enthiran, and became the highest grossing Tamil movie of 2013 and one of the highest grossing Tamil movies ever. The film was honoured with awards for Best Art Direction and Best Choreography at the 60th National Film Awards. A circumquel to the film, Vishwaroopam II, was released on 10 August 2018.
Plot
In New York City, a psychologist conducts a session with a nuclear oncologist, Nirupama, who begins to confide that her marriage was one of convenience. Her husband, Vishwanath, aka Viz, a Kathak teacher, has feminine behaviour, which prompted her to be attracted to her boss, Deepankar. She suspects that Viz has secrets of his own, and hires a P.I. to find anything to be used for divorce. She learns from the P.I. that Viz is a Tamil Muslim. The investigator is killed in a warehouse by Farukh, a prominent member of the cell led by Omar Qureshi.
A diary on the P.I. gives away Nirupama's existence, and the group led by Farukh invades her home and takes Viz and Nirupama hostage. While Viz and Nirupama are held hostage, Viz surprises Nirupama by killing Farukh and his men single-handedly and escaping with Nirupama.
Omar and Viz are then revealed to have a past; they were both involved in Taliban training camps. Viz's real name is Wizam Ahmad Kashmiri, an alleged Tamil Jihadi, wanted by the Indian Army. Omar, the leader of Taliban, accepts him into his team. One day, Omar tells Wizam that American prisoners of war are still alive and incarcerated. He orders his deputy, Salim, to behead the Captain and capture it on video. The next day Wizam sees Osama bin Laden greeting the Taliban and Al Qaeda chieftains in a cave. Then, a US-led air force begins a bombing raid on the town. Omar begins to suspect that there is an informant on his team but mistakenly orders the lynching of an innocent man. Eventually, it is revealed that there are sleeper agents scraping caesium-137 from oncological equipment to build and trigger a dirty bomb in New York City.
Nirupama is stunned to discover the true identity of Viz, along his uncle Colonel Jagannathan, his British friend Dr. Dawkins, and the young dancer Ashmita. Viz later reveals that he has a lot of emotional baggage and that he has executed many militants, including Nassar, Omar's boss. His mission is to bust the sleeper-cell of Taliban in the US. Wizam and his team try to counter Omar's plans, and in the ensuing events, they are arrested by the FBI for questioning.
Dawkins is murdered by Salim while picking up a videotape from an antique shop. The FBI later releases Wizam and the women from custody after he reveals himself as a RAW agent. Wizam, along with the FBI, takes down Omar's agent Abbasi and defuses the caesium bomb with the help of Nirupama. Omar tries to activate a bomb through his phone but fails. He then calls Abbasi, but the call is answered by Wizam, who tells him that Abbasi is not alive. Omar is shocked to hear this, but he escapes with Salim in his chartered flight. Wizam indicates that he will now go after Omar.
Cast
Production
Development After finishing his Manmadan Ambu (2010), Kamal Haasan stated in November 2010 that he was working on the scriptment of his "pet project" titled Thalaivan Irukkiran, a film about an international community. Termed as a big budget multi-starrer film, it was expected to commence by March 2011, with a Hollywood studio reportedly coming forward to produce it. However, in early 2011, sources claimed that Kamal shelved that project and agreed to star in a Selvaraghavan directorial, being impressed by the one-line story narrated to him. Reports further suggested that the film was based on the 2001 American psychological thriller Hannibal, with Kamal playing a cannibal, Closer to release, Kamal Haasan revealed that he had thought of the story seven years before production began and had to convince himself that the story could be made into a feature film. The film was named Vishwaroopam, after several titles were considered, by late March and the shooting was planned to begin by mid-April and to be completed within 100 days.
On 24 May 2011, it was reported that Selvaraghavan was ousted from the project, as he was busy finishing his project with his brother Dhanush. Kamal Hassan decided to direct the film himself in addition to writing the story, screenplay, and dialogues. The producing studio, Telephoto Films, had urged him to take up the project, planning for a release on 7 November 2011. Haasan later revealed that he took over direction because Selvaraghavan wasted his dates without any progress. The film was being made as a bilingual and simultaneously shot in Tamil and Hindi languages; all the actors had to learn their dialogues in both languages. Sanu Varghese made his debut as a cinematographer in Tamil after previously working in the Hindi film, Karthik Calling Karthik and the Malayalam film Elektra. Varghese had previously been a part of the team that Kamal Haasan had assembled for Marmayogi, which did not take off. Mahesh Narayanan, a leading Malayalam film editor, was signed up for the project after he had acquainted with Kamal Haasan for the pre-production works of the film Traffic, which the actor later opted out from. The team signed up N. G. Roshan as a make-up artist after Kamal Haasan appreciated his work in the 2009 Malayalam film Pazhassi Raja, while Mahadevan Thampi was picked to be the still photographer after Kamal Haasan had worked with him for a day during his guest appearance in Four Friends.
Casting
By February 2011, newcomer Sonakshi Sinha was approached to play the lead female character, and was confirmed to play Haasan's wife. Her salary for the film was touted to be . However, with the film getting delayed, she opted out by July, due to conflicting dates with her Hindi assignments. Following Sinha's exit, other leading Bollywood actresses, including Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, and Sonam Kapoor were considered. Vidya Balan was also approached by the makers, but she declined the offer, owing to her prior commitments. By mid-August, Sameera Reddy was reported to have been roped in for the role, while sources stated that Anushka Shetty was finalised soon after. In early November 2011, New York based model-actress Pooja Kumar was signed in for a role after she had been recommended to Kamal Haasan by his partner, Gautami. Being a non-Tamil speaker her dialogues have been dubbed by actress Abhirami, although Pooja Kumar dubbed for herself in the film's Hindi version. Telugu actress Lakshmi Manchu was offered a role in the film, but declined it due to date issues.
Shriya Saran was reported to play the second female lead in the film, with the actress dismissing the news several days later, citing that she had not even heard the script, following which Priya Anand was claimed to have secured that role. This turned out to be false, with Kamal Haasan citing that he did not know who Priya Anand was. Isha Sharvani was meanwhile selected for a role, however, Sharvani too opted out later, due to "inordinate delay in the start of the shoot". By late August 2011, British model-turned-actress Amy Jackson was reported to have been added to the cast. During mid-October, singer-actress Andrea Jeremiah had been signed on for a pivotal role and paid an advance.
Rahul Bose was finalised to play the antagonist. Later that month, actor-director Shekhar Kapur informed on Twitter that he would perform a cameo role, while Samrat Chakrabarti had also been selected for a supporting role. Jaideep Ahlawat disclosed in an interview that he would play an "out-and-out negative character" in the film. Zarina Wahab told in November 2011 that she shot for a small role in Vishwaroopam. In January 2012, Chitrangada Singh was offered a "very special role", which the actress had to decline, since her dates clashed with Sudhir Mishra's film.
Filming
The film's shooting was supposed to begin on 20 April but became delayed, since the US Consulate had refused visas to the cast and crew. The team decided to relocate to Canada, postponing filming to June. The shooting began for the film in Chennai in August 2011 and locations filmed at included Haasan's office in October 2011, when Isha Sharvani was also a part of the shoot. The film briskly progressed in late 2011, with scenes involving Samrat Chakrabarti filmed in November of the same year. Sets resembling Afghanistan were created in Chennai, with many foreigners from Russia, Iran and Africa playing American soldiers, while Haasan wore an Afghan look. In November 2011, the team also pursued schedules in Amman and Petra in Jordan with Rahul Bose's scenes being canned. Haasan learnt Kathak from Birju Maharaj for an important portion in the film.