High court re-imposes ban on 'Vishwaroopam'

Chennai: The problems for the veteran actor Kamal Haasan's mega-budget 'Vishwaroopam' increased after the Madras High Court Wednesday set aside the single judge's interim order that allowed screening of the film in the state.

Hearing the appeal made by the Tamil Nadu government against the single judge's order, a two-member high court bench set aside the former's order.

The high court bench chaired by Justice Dharma Rao has nullified the revocation of the ban on the film by Justice K. Venkataraman on Tuesday.

"The film stays banned as of now and it can't be screened across Tamil Nadu," Justice Dharma Rao said.

The court has asked the state government to submit its responses by Monday.

The Madras High Court Tuesday ruled in favour of 'Vishwaroopam' and revoked the ban by the state government. It, however, said that the administrative step was to be taken by the government.

'Vishwaroopam' was due to release on January 25, but was banned following objections from certain Muslim groups, who claimed that the film portrayed their community in a bad light. Apart from Tamil Nadu, the film was banned in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.