After Kaala, will Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam 2 bear the brunt of pro-Kannada groups?

Kamal Haasan has announced that his much-delayed Vishwaroopam 2 will hit the screens on August 10. The second installment of the movie is coming up after the gap of five years.

Now, time will decide if Vishwaroopam 2 will hit the screens in Karnataka as several Kannada groups are against Kamal Haasan for his pro-Tamil Nadu stand on Cauvery issue. Recently, Kannada outfits had protested against the release of Kaala and managed to delay the film's release by a day in Karnataka over Rajinikanth's demand on the formation of Cauvery Management Board.

Nonetheless, Kamal Haasan has made his first move towards building a good relationship with Karnataka. The actor was in Bengaluru recently to meet newly-elected Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to discuss the Cauvery water-sharing issue.

His gesture might help Vishwaroopam 2 release in Karnataka without any issues.

The upcoming movie is a sequel to hit film Vishwaroopam, which was banned in Tamil Nadu by the then-Jayalalithaa government for a few weeks fearing law and order issues. A few fringe groups had threatened to set ablaze theatres as it presumed that the Tamil movie projects Muslim communities in a bad light.

While Vishwaroopam released in overseas and other parts of India, the film was stalled by the state government. In the end, the court cleared the film after Kamal Haasan agreed to delete the scenes, which had not gone well with the fringe groups.

Vishwaroopam 2 is written and directed by Kamal Haasan himself. Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Shekhar Kapur, Rahul Bose and others are in the cast.