Dinesh Kamath's column on movie 'Vishwaroop' that was published in Newsband

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Vishwaroopam is an upcoming Tamil-Hindi bilingual Indian spy thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Kamal Haasan that features himself in the lead role. The film also has Rahul Bose, Andrea Jeremiah and Jaideep Ahlawat in supporting roles. The soundtrack is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, with lyrics by Vairamuthu and Kamal Haasan for the Tamil and Javed Akhtar for the Hindi versions respectively. The film was shot with the same cast in both languages simultaneously, and is titled in Hindi as Vishwaroop. The film has cinematography handled by Sanu Varghese and editing done by Mahesh Narayanan.

The film is about a marriage of convenience. Vishwanath alias Wiz, a Kathak exponent, and Nirupama get married. Each has an agenda and seem to have achieved their wishes in three years of matrimony. Nirupama gets her Ph.D and Wiz runs his dance class in New Jersey unhindered by each other.

All is fine till Dr. Nirupama aspires for more and wants to opt out of the arranged marriage. She cannot cite any specific reason to leave Wiz as there is nothing much to complain about him. Every male according to Nirupama must have a flaw. So she decides to find out something about him to feel better about her decision to part. She hires a detective to rake up something on him. Wires get cross-connected and all hell breaks loose.

The film has Kamal Haasan as Viswanath, Pooja Kumar as Dr. Nirupama, Andrea Jeremiah as Ashmita, Rahul Bose as Omar, Jaideep Ahlawat, Samrat Chakrabarti, Zarina Wahab, Nassar, Shekhar Kapur in a special appearance, Miles Anderson as Dawkins, James Babson as Tom Black, Jude S. Walko as Captain Joe, Chris Kotcher as Tollbooth Operator, Greg Sammis as F.B.I. Agent, David Scott Diaz as F.B.I. Agent and Melissa Bayer as Store Customer.

Development of the project commenced after the release of Kamal's Manmadhan Ambu, and several of the crew were brought in from Hollywood. The direction department was taken over by Kamal Haasan from Selvaraghavan, and reports indicating a comparison with Hollywood films surfaced during the production. Due to delays, casting took a relatively long period of time, with several of the original cast dropping out of the project. The film was shot extensively overseas, in countries including the United States and Canada, while domestic locations included Chennai and Mumbai. It is the first Indian film, and second world film (after Red Tails) ever to be equipped with Auro 3D sound format. Vishwaroopam will be first of its kind to release on DTH platforms,

Some say that the film is a spy thriller on the lines of the Mission Impossible series. Others say that the film is based on the 2001 American psychological thriller Hannibal

The climax scenes featuring an aerial fight choreographed by Hollywood stuntman Lee Whittaker was filmed at Chandivali Studio in Andheri, Mumbai in early March 2012 with Haasan and Rahul Bose. The film was shot in digital format. The fact that cinema is going digital is the biggest technological change today. We have to accept it, as it is happening globally.

Gouthami designed the costumes for the film. A research had to be carried out on the American army's hierarchy for the costumes. N. G. Roshan, who had previously worked in notable Malayalam films, took charge of the make-up for the film. The villain had to undergo a heavy use of prosthetic make-up. A scene involving a war explosion had to show an injured jaw for him. Further, the artists appearing as war victims had blood and other forms of injuries applied on their bodies. The Jaika stunt team, that was also involved in Ajith Kumar's Billa II then, worked on the action sequences. Haasan's younger daughter Akshara Haasan joined the crew as an assistant director. Kunal Rajan was roped in as a sound designer and the stunt crew for the film were imported in from Thailand.

Kamal signed in the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy to compose music for the trilingual, making it his second collaboration with them after Aalavandhan. Javed Akhtar has penned lyrics for the Hindi version.

The first look poster and a teaser of the film were released on May Day 2012 as part of the film's marketing process. The poster consisted of Kamal Haasan wearing a green khaki jacket, with a flying pigeon and a skyline of a city consisting of several skyscrapers in the background. Snippets from the film were unveiled during the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend and awards in Singapore in June 2012, as the actor-director screened excerpts from the film, attracting critical acclaim.

The Central Board of Film Certification had given the Hindi version Vishwaroop an "A" (Adults Only) certificate with no cuts. However, it was later announced that the Hindi version went through minor cuts to receive the U/A certificate.

Do watch the film when it gets released on 11 January 2012.