Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
Responding to the controversy over his comment that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”, actor Kamal Haasan on Wednesday, May 28 clarified that he did not mean anything by the comment. He said that he made the remark “out of love.” He further said that politicians, including him, are not qualified to talk about languages. Kamal is the leader of the political party Makkal Neethi Maiam and is set to become a Rajya Sabha member soon.
“They [politicians] do not have the education enough to talk about it. That includes me. Let’s leave all these in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists, and language experts,” he said.
Kamal stoked the language debate on May 26, during the audio launch of his latest movie Thug Life. He began his speech by invoking his love for Tamil. While thanking the participation of Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar – who attended the event as a special guest – Kamal said that his “life, relationship, and Tamil” extended to Shiva Rajkumar as well. “Your language (Kannada) was also born out of Tamil. So you are also part of it,” Kamal said, pointing to the Kannada actor.
His remarks about the hierarchy of languages prompted Kannada organisations to call for a boycott of Thug Life, which is directed by Mani Ratnam.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also responded to the controversy saying, “Kannada language has a very long history... he (Kamal Haasan) doesn’t know.”
In his clarification, Kamal said – referring to Shiva Rajkumar’s father, the legendary actor Rajkumar, as his elder brother – “So are the languages. If you look at it from the northern point of view, what they say according to them is right. If you look at it from the Then Kumari (southern Kumari) [perspective], then I what I say is right. There is a third angle to it: that is what the scholars and language experts say. They will say that the both [arguments] are right, but they must decide where they want to belong: their family or the languages that came from the north.”
“This is not an answer. This is an explanation. Love will never apologise,” Kamal concluded.
Thug Life, starring Kamal, Simbu, Trisha, Joju George, Nasser, and others, is releasing on June 5. The film marks the reunion of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan after nearly three decades.