Bengaluru:
The Karnataka High Court has warned Tamil Nadu actor-politician Kamal Haasan against misusing his right to free speech to hurt people’s sentiments, and called on him to withdraw the remark – that the Kannada language was “born out of Tamil” – at the centre of a fierce row.
In sharp remarks Tuesday morning, the court also offered Kamal Haasan a culinary-themed warning, declaring “you can’t unscramble scrambled eggs” as it urged him to apologise.
“You are not an ordinary man,” the court said of the 70-year-old superstar, who is expected to become a Rajya Sabha MP this month with support from Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK.
“You have a right to speech… but not to hurt sentiments. The fundamental right of (free) speech and expression cannot be given to an extent that it hurts the sentiments of the masses. We are leaving this to you now… apologise if you have hurt anyone,” the court said, referring also to potential revenue from Kamal Haasan’s new film, ‘Thug Life’, which premieres Thursday.
“In this case you made a statement. Withdraw that statement… that is all. Crores can be earned from Karnataka… but if you don’t need the people (of Kannada) then leave the revenue…”
“But we will not permit anyone to take public sentiments for a ride… when mistakes happen you should say, ‘It is in this context I spoke (but) if it has hurt anyone I apologise’,” the court said.
The court was hearing a petition seeking direction to the authorities, including the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, to not obstruct or bar the release of his new movie in the state.
The KFCC had on Monday banned ‘Thug Life’ from premiering in Karnataka; the film body’s President, MM Narasimhulu, said, “Kamal Haasan is insisting, ‘I have not done anything wrong, so will not apologise’. But if he does not, there is no question of allowing the film’s release.”
On Friday Kamal Haasan had refused to apologise, saying he would have apologised if he felt his remarks were wrong. “This is a democracy and I believe in law and justice,” he said.
The “born out of Tamil” controversy broke earlier this week when Kamal Haasan was speaking at an event in Chennai ahead of the launch of his new film, ‘Thug Life’. He began his speech with the phrase ‘uyire urave Tamizhe‘, meaning ‘my life and my family is (the) Tamil language’.
Then pivoting to Shiva Rajkumar, a Kannada actor also at the event, he said, “This is my family in that place. That’s why he (Rajkumar) has come… that’s why I began saying ‘life, relationship and Tamil’. Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil, so you too are included…”
The comment drew predictably sharp reactions, with the BJP, the main opposition party in Karnataka and allied with the main opposition in Tamil Nadu (the AIADMK) slammed the actor. Karnataka BJP chief V Yediyurappa accused him of insulting Kannada.
