Kamal Haasan restrained by Bengaluru court from making defamatory remarks on Kannada

Actor Kamal Haasan’s ‘Kannada was born out of Tamil’ remark continues to cause multiple ripple effects. 

After a state-wide ban for Thug Life in Karnataka that significantly brought down the film’s revenue, Kamal Haasan has now been restrained by a civil court in Bengaluru from “making, posting, writing and publishing” any statements defaming Kannada language.

Following a suit filed by the Kannada Sahitya Parishattu and its President Nadoja Dr Mahesh Joshi, Judge Madhu NR passed the interim order barring the actor from saying anything against the language, its land and culture that could potentially cause hurt to people of the state.

The plaintiffs noted that the statement came at a time when Kamal Haasan filed nomination for Rajya Sabha representing DMK party and claimed that his words caused “immense pain and anguish” to Kannadigas.

After the judgement, the court had also issued summons to the actor and posted the case for further hearing on August 30.

The row over Kamal Haasan’s statement arose during the audio launch of Thug Life where Kamal claimed that “Kannada was born out of Tamil.” This statement ignited furious reactions from cultural organisations and pro-Kannada groups in Karnataka. Minister for Kannada and Culture, Shivaraj Tangadagi and KFCC unequivocally stated that his film will not be released in the state unless the actor issues a formal apology. Eventually the film remained unreleased in the state. Further, the actor’s effigies were also burnt in protest of his statement in many parts of Karnataka.

The actor issued a letter clarifying that his words have been “misunderstood” and “taken out of context”, and also went to court seeking relief. Even after SC’s approval, distributors in the state took the call of pulling the plug against its release stating its underperformance across the country.

Meanwhile Thug Life, starring Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan in lead roles, has quietly dropped on Netflix after failing to earn even Rs 100 crore worldwide. Reportedly, the film’s production company faced a penalty of Rs 25 lakh after breaching national eight-week window for a theatrical release. The film had marked the actor and Mani Ratnam’s collaboration after 38 years after Nayakan. 

It also had Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Abhirami, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ali Fazal, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy and Tanikella Bharani in prominent roles.

Source: Cinema Express
--Agencies