| Vishwaroopam | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kamal Haasan |
| Screenplay by | Kamal Haasan |
| Story by | Kamal Haasan |
| Starring | Kamal Haasan Pooja Kumar Rahul Bose Isha Sharvani |
| Music by | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy |
| Studio | Rajkamal International |
| Distributed by | Rajkamal International |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil Hindi |
Vishwaroopam is an upcoming bilingial Tamil and Hindi spy thriller film to be written and directed by Kamal Haasan that features himself in the lead role.[1][2]
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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, which was touted to become his next release.[3] 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 the project.[3] 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.[4][5][6] Reports further suggested that the film was based on the 2001 American psychological thriller Hannibal,[7] with Kamal playing a cannibal, similar to Anthony Hopkins' role,[8][9] while Yuvan Shankar Raja was said to compose the film's musical score.[10][11] The film became named Vishwaroopam by late March and was planned to begin by mid-April and be completed within 100 days.[12] It was further revealed that the film would be produced in three languages-Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-simultaneously,[12] and that Kamal therefore had signed the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, leading composers in Bollywood, for the music department, replacing Selvaraghavan's choice, Yuvan Shankar Raja.[13]
On 24 May 2011, it was announced that Selvaraghavan was ousted from the project, who was busy finishing his ongoing project with his brother Dhanush, and Kamal Hassan decided to direct the film himself in addition to writing the story, screenplay and dialogues.[14][15] The producing studio, Telephoto Films, had urged Kamal Haasan to take up the project, planning for a release on 7 November 2011,[16] while sources further reported that the estimated budget was around 150 crores, making it one of the costliest productions in India.[14] The film was then disclosed to be a spy thriller on the lines of the Mission Impossible series.[17][18] In October 2011, it was confirmed that the film was being made as a bilingual, simultaneously being shot in Tamil and Hindi languages; all the actors had to learn their dialogues in both languages.[19] It has been reported that Kamal Haasan is learning Kathak from Birju Maharaj for the film.[20][21][22]
By February 2011, reports emerged that Bollywood newcomer Sonakshi Sinha was approached to play the lead female character,[8] who became confirmed the following month and was said to play the wife to Kamal Haasan's character.[23] However, with the film getting delayed, she opted out by July, due to conflicting dates with her Hindi assignments.[24][25] Following Sinha's exit, other leading Bollywood actresses, including Deepika Padukone,[26] and Sonam Kapoor were considered.[27] Vidya Balan was also approached by the makers, but she declined the offer, owing to her prior commitments.[28] By mid-August, Sameera Reddy was widely reported to have been roped in for the role,[29][30][31] while few days later, sources stated that Anushka Shetty was finalized.[32][33] In early November 2011, Times of India confirmed that New York based model-actress Pooja Kumar was signed on for the role and that she had been shooting for three weeks by then.[34]
Shriya Saran was earlier reported to play the second female lead in the film,[35] with the actress dismissing the news several days later, citing that she had not even heard the script,[36] following which Priya Anand was claimed to have bagged that role,[37][38] which turned out to be untrue, with Kamal Haasan citing that he did not know who Priya Anand was.[24] Isha Sharvani was meanwhile selected for a role thanks to her dancing abilities,[39][40] with reports suggesting that she would essay the character of Kamal Haasan's sister in the film,[27][30] while Rahul Bose was finalized for the antagonist role in the film.[41] By late August 2011, British model-turned-actress Amy Jackson was reported to have been added to the cast, portraying a foreigner in the film.[42][43] The team also failed in the pursuit to sign up Lakshmi Manchu for a role, with the actress revealing on Twitter that she could not allot dates for the film.[44] During mid-October, reports confirmed that singer-actress Andrea Jeremiah had been signed on for a pivotal role and paid an advance.[45] Later that month, actor-director Shekhar Kapur informed on Twitter that he would perform a cameo role in Vishwaroopam,[46] while Samrat Chakrabarti had also been selected for a supporting role in the film.[47] Bollywood actor Jaideep Ahlawat disclosed in an interview that he would play an "out-and-out negative character" in the film.[48] Zarina Wahab told in November 2011 that she shot for a small role in Vishwaroopam.[49]
Kamal Haasan's younger daughter Akshara Haasan joined the crew as an assistant director,[50] while Vairamuthu was roped in to pen the lyrics for five of the six songs.[51]
The film's shooting was supposed to take off on 20 April, but became delayed, since the US Consulate had refused Visas to the cast and crew.[52] The team decided to relocate to Canada, postponing filming to June.[53] Kamal Haasan went to America on 15 December, 2011 for the first schedule shooting of the film, after, it is expected that shooting will be in European countries.[54] The second schedule was shot extensively in Jordan.[55]