Kamal Haasan plays ten different roles in this “magnum opus” to be released initially in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court on May 20, further postponed till May 27 hearing in the case filed by Sri Vaishnava Dharma Samrakshana Society, represented by its president Govinda Ramanuja Dasa, objecting to certain scenes which, according to the petitioner, would wound the religious sentiments of Hindus.
A vacation bench comprising Justice K. Venkataraman and Justice M. Sathyanarayanann on May 20 adjourned the matter by a week after counsel for the producers submitted that it would take at least two weeks to make the required number of prints of the film.
Producer Ravichandran, in his counter affidavit, came down heavily on the petitioner, contending that such public interest writ petitions would incite communal disturbances. Provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Goondas Act should be invoked against the Vaishnavaite Society and its office-bearers for filing the “vexatioius PIL”.Ravichandran claimed that “Dasavatharam’ in fact glorified the religious traditions and sentiments of not only Hinduism, but also Christianity and Sikhism, and that no scene in the film would cause disrepute to the “pranava mantra OM” and the Bhagavad Gita.
The producer further submitted that Govinda Ramanuja Dasa had filed the petition only to ‘ventilate his private malice’. The censor certificate had been issued to the film and the question of removing any scene at the choice of the petitioner did not arise at all. The petition was an attempt to upset and disturb the communal harmony and it should be dismissed, he pleaded.
