Both the cinematic and controversial direct-to-home (DTH) television releases of Kamal Hasaan’s ‘Vishwaroopam,’ planned on January 11 and 10 respectively have been postponed, with no confirmed release date.
“I have postponed the film’s release to a future date solely for my convenience,” said Haasan, the film’s producer and lead actor, at a press conference at his Chennai office today.
“I was not pressurized by anyone,” he added.
“I will announce the release date of ‘Vishwaroopam’, and no one else can take a decision on this. We want all versions of the film -- Tamil, Telugu and Hindi -- to release on the same day. Also we would like to give more time for people to subscribe for DTH preview. So I will decide on a release date which is comfortable in all aspects,” added Haasan.
“I am doing an honest and legitimate trade. No one has the right to stop me from going ahead. I will take legal action on those who threaten me and who try to prevent me from doing this.”
Theatre owners had opposed the decision to premiere the movie on DTH first.
DTH operators on Wednesday said they had stopped taking bookings for the TV service.
“We have a communication [from Rajkamal Films] about the postponement of movie release on DTH platform and in theatres,” Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV told IANS.
“In line with the postponement of the release date of the movie ‘Vishwaroopam (Tamil and Telugu)/Vishwaroop (Hindi)’ across theatres and on the DTH platform by Rajkamal Films, we have stopped taking bookings for the movie premiere that was scheduled for Jan 10, 2013 at 9.30pm on Airtel DTH,” Shashi Arora, CEO-DTH/Media, Bharti Airtel said in a statement issued by the company.
“We are awaiting confirmation from Rajkamal Films on the revised dates,” he said.
Queried about the money paid by the subscribers to watch the movie Jan 10, Kapoor said: “We will go by what our customer want us to do. If they want a refund, we will refund the money.”
Queried whether Dish TV would be able to get compensation from Rajkamal Films for the money it spent on promoting the movie, Kapoor said: “The release of the movie has been postponed and nothing else has happened.”
Both Airtel and Dish TV would not commment on the number of bookings they have got for the movie.
-- With inputs from IANS
