Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life Team Says ‘Karnataka Govt. Did Not Take Action Against Threats’

The makers of the movie Thug Life starring Kamal Haasan approached the Supreme Court on June 14. They stated that they have not been getting any help or security provided by the Karnataka government even though they are met with serious threats.  The threats were after Kamal Haasan commented on the Kannada language during the audio launch of the film in Chennai.

For the unversed, he made a statement linking the origins of the Kannada language to Tamil. “Actor Shivarajkumar is my family living in another state. That’s why he is here. That’s why when I started my speech, I said ‘My life and my family is Tamil’. Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil. So you are included in that line,” he said.

This comment quickly became viral, and it provoked a sharp reaction from pro-Kannada activists.  They felt indignant and claimed that he was disrespecting their language.  This led to a complaint being filed against Kamal Haasan and the film was banned in Karnataka.

“A fringe group issued threats of large-scale violence, including the burning of theatres and attacks against members of the Tamil linguistic minority residing in Karnataka. Despite these open and public threats, not a single FIR was registered, nor was any prosecution initiated by the State Government. On the contrary, the government appeared to adopt the position of the very fringe elements that issued those threats. We are aggrieved by this inaction and are now before the Supreme Court, seeking enforcement of this Court’s past directions,” Advocate A Velan said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.

The team asserts that this failure to act infringes its right to free speech as elevated in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.  The Supreme Court has now requested the Karnataka government to reply.

Haasan later claimed that his remark was “misinterpreted” in a letter to the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC). “It pains me that my statement at the Thug Life audio launch, spoken out of genuine affection for the legendary Dr. Rajkumar’s family, especially Shiva Rajkumar has been misunderstood and taken out of context. My words were intended only to convey that we are all one and from the same family and not to diminish Kannada in any way. There is no dispute or debate on the rich legacy of Kannada language,” he wrote.