Kamal Haasan given 24 hours to apologise; moves Karnataka HC amid language row

The controversy surrounding Kamal Haasan and his remark on the Kannada language does not seem to be dying down. The actor recently faced backlash from the Karnataka government and pro-Kannada communities for saying that “Kannada was born out of Tamil” during a recent event for his upcoming film, Thug Life.

As reported by ANI, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has announced that the Mani Ratnam directorial’s release will be banned in the state until the actor issues a public apology. KFCC president M Narasimhalu stated that a distributor from Karnataka has invested money in the film. “We will wait for 24 hours; if he doesn’t apologise, his movie will not be allowed to be released in any of the theatres in Karnataka. 100% without his apology movie cannot be released,” Narasimhalu declared adding that the actor is currently in Dubai and will return to Chennai tomorrow.

Now, Haasan has moved to the Karnataka High Court to restrain the government and film chamber from barring the screening of the film in the state and petitioned to provide proper security during the screening of the film. He filed the petition through the CEO of his production banner, Raaj Kamal Films International.

Haasan had earlier clarified that his comments were made out of love and “love will never apologise”. A complaint by a pro-Kannada organisation, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, alleged, "Every time a new Tamil movie is released, they have been constantly hurting the self-respect of Kannadigas. Such statements have been made continuously and have further disrupted peace and order between Kannadigas and Tamils.”