Kamal Haasan refuses to apologize for his controversial remarks on Kannada not to release ‘Thug Life’ in Karnataka on 5 June.

The Karnataka film Chamber of Commerce and various supporters-Kannada organizations have opposed the release of ‘Thug Life’ in Karnataka, until actor Kamal Haasan apologized. File | Photo Credit: Johan Satya Das Jai

Tamil movie thug Life On June 5, Karnataka will not be released as part of his worldwide launch, as actor Kamal Haasan did not apologize for his statement that ‘Kannada is out of Tamil’ despite the suggestions made by the High Court of Karnataka to end the dispute.

A petition was filed by Ragkamal Films International (in which Mr. Haasan is a director), in which the petition was filed, demanding police protection for the release of the film due to the Pro-Kanada organizations and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) opposition. The company said that it is not ready to screen the film in Karnataka unless there is an encouraging dialogue with KFCC.

KFCC, with its controversial statement, demanded an apology from the actor to ‘reduce the feelings of the people of Karnataka’.

On June 3, Mr. Haasan wrote a letter to KFCC stating that his statement on Kannada during the launch of the audio of the film ‘Famous Dr.. The prince was excluded from real affection … and his words were intended only to tell that we are all from the same family and not to reduce Kannada in any way …

Recording the statement made by the petitioner that the company does not intend to release the film in Karnataka on 5 June, Justice M. Nagprasanna postponed further hearing on the petition till 10 June.

The petitioner made it clear to the court that the company does not intend to release the film in Karnataka, unless the dialogue requested with KFCC is to resolve the issue.

C. Rajagopalachari’s gesture

Earlier in the morning session, the court asked why the actor did not end the controversy by apologizing for his comment when the then Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalchiri of India apologized for making a similar statement in the 1950s.

“When people like Rajgopalacherry can apologize, why can’t Kamal Haasan not,” the court asked the advocate of international representing Rajkamal films.

“You can be Kamal Haasan … but any citizen has no right to hurt public sentiments. There are three things that are very emotional, that is Nela, Jala and Bhashi, (Land, water and language). These three things are important for any citizen. You know that the states were made on linguistic lines. So you know the importance of the language (Shri Hassan), ”the court watched orally.

The court orally observed that ‘like Mr. Haasan a public person makes a public statement on a public platform that a language is born out of another language when no language can be born out of any other language … where is the material to support it? And what has happened due to that statement, unrest, disagreement… what did the people of Karnataka ask? An apology. Now you have come in front of the court, which is demanding police protection for the circumstances you created. Has the people of Karnataka created this situation? ,

When the court asked the advocate whether Mr. Haasan was a historian or linguistic, the advocate made it clear that the actor had already made it clear that he was not. For this, the court asked on what basis Mr. Haasan made a statement that ‘Tamil Kannada’s mother’.

Justice Nagprasana told the advocate of Shri Hassan that in response to a letter written by the writers of Kannada, Mr. Rajagopalachiri had apologized in writing to make a statement that ‘Kannada is developed from Tamil’.

“Ek forgiveness (by Mr. Haasan) must have solved everything,” the court said that Mr. Haasan is in front of this court to protect his commercial interest.

The court said, “Your own creation (of problems) You want the state police machinery to support you now. We are not on this group and that group. Language is a sense of land of special people. You said something that will be weak,” the court said.

When Mr. Hasan’s advocate asked if the actor’s statement ‘reduces Kannada’, the court said, “Yes it does.”

“You cannot say that Kannada language is so strong that it will not be away from such things. You are not an ordinary man. You are not a public person. Now the common people who tweet anything on social media or do anything are also considered as a mistake, and crimes are considered left, right and center and now on a public platform …. and a public person speaks like this …”.

The court said, “Freedom of expression cannot be extended to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially a mass,” the court said.

Actor’s response to suggestion by court

In response to the suggestion of the court in the morning, Mr. Chinnappa said that he spoke to Mr. Hassan. The actor clarified that he had already interacted with KFCC that he did not intend to reduce Kannada in any way.

When the court asked why the actor did not give a punishment in this letter, Mr. Chinnapa said, “An apology is needed where there is maliciousness” claiming that Mr. Haasan had no ill intention when she had a statement about Kannada.

When the court did not say anything other than the actor’s response to ‘ego’, the Advocate claimed that it is not an ego saying that the petitioner is currently not emphasizing the release of the film in Karnataka, and demanding a stay on the petition.