OPINION PIECE: Kamalhaasan’s Thug Life Response to Karnataka

The recent controversy surrounding Kamalhaasan’s comments about the Kannada language have ignited lots of discussions on both sides of the issue after Kamalhaasan announced that Thug Life will not release in Karnataka. This follows a threat to ban the film if he did not apologise for comments he made about the Kannada language.

It is not the first time that a Kamalhaasan starrer has faced opposition to release – His 2013 film, Dasavatharam faced a similar ban then and he was unrelenting at the time, calling out the extremists for their bigotry.

What is the current furore about? Kamalhaasan mentioned that Kannada is an offshoot of the Tamil language. There is a lot of evidence from the script and vocabulary to support this view, but there is no inconclusive evidence that can be produced to satisfy those who are questioning the validity of this view. In context, Kamalhaasan was merely talking about how the South Indian languages come from the same family of languages and that within this family, Tamil is a parent language. Others differ and say that all the South Indian languages evolved from the Proto-Dravidian language, and that Kamalhaasan’s views was condescending and disrespectful of the Kannada language and its people.

It would be difficult to prove either view valid beyond a shadow of doubt and perhaps that is neither necessary nor desirable. What is at stake is something way beyond semantics or even language pride. At the heart of it all is something deep-rooted and – like the claim about the Kannada language – impossible to prove.

The first point to note is that it has long been a contention from some scholars that Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages, including all South Indian languages. When those statements were made, there was no wave of opposition to that view. There was no call to ask for an apology for the view, nor was there even a remote threat of repercussions against the people who held that clearly contentious view. Yet, now someone has been asked to apologise for holding a similar view.

Kamalhaasan’s stated opinion on this issue is that he stated what he believed to be true. If people disagree with him, that was their right but, he believes that he should not have to apologise for stating an opinion. He maintains that Indian law would be setting a dangerous precedent if people were forced to apologise for holding an unpopular view.

The people that stand to lose the most from the ban on the screening of Thug Life in Karnataka are the cinema owners and film fans. With Thug Life being one of the biggest releases of this year, the opening week would have been very lucrative, regardless of reviews or audience reactions, as most people prefer to watch a film in its first week of release. It is obviously a loss to Kamalhaasan personally, as he is one of the producers and also the main distributor of the film. It is therefore not irresponsible for him to refuse to apologise if he believes that he has become a victim of cancel culture.

Of interest is that Kamalhaasan’s co-stars, director Maniratnam and A.R.Rahman are behaving the way Shirman’s character behaved in Panja Thathiram after the minor auto accident – They have not taken the role of passive bystanders, neither overtly supporting or denouncing Kamalhaasan’s view/This is unfortunate because it has only resulted in highlighting how personalised this attack has been.

Although Red Giant movies has a stake in this film, the ruling party of Tamil Nadu has been uncharacteristically quiet – especially for a party that claims to be the first to defend Tamil pride.

The result has been a picture of Kamalhaasan as a sole force against everyone else and that it what has made this entire episode so distasteful.

The tensions between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have oscillated between simmering and explosive. Whether is the Kaveri issue or anything else, the two states have been at loggerheads for more than three decades. To think that the latest dispute surrounds the screening or non-screening of an action movie must surely be a source of embarrassment to both states.

For me, the burning question is: Who stands to gain anything from this whole episode? It’s obviously not Kamalhaasan or anyone else associated with Thug Life. It cannot be the respective film industries or the theatre owners. It certainly cannot be film fans. The loss of revenue to the state of Karnataka also means that the entire state loses from this move?

Is it too far-fetched to suggest that those pushing for Hindi imposition across India are now possibly trying to sow discord among the states that had the greatest resistance to Hindi imposition– the southern states? Will a lack of unity among the speakers of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Tulu and Malayalam -the individual languages from the southern states – ultimately weaken their resistance and take their states closer to Hindi imposition.

It was Kamalhaasan who took the lead in recent times to be quite vocal against Hindi opposition. Is this now payback time whilst simultaneously weakening the unity of the southern states?

This does not ignore the fact that Kamalhaasan has been on the wrong side of public opinion all too frequently. He is openly atheistic, candid in his political views and unafraid to take on the establishment – whether the establishment is a religious institution, the political world or the world of cinema. There are therefore those who would love to watch his downfall.

This is the view of actress Vinodhini on the issue:

Regardless of how Thug Life performs in its opening three days, it would be a sad day if a democracy does not allow for the expression of thought without fear of repercussions. Kamalhaasan’s refusal to apologise is not an act of arrogance, stubbornness or a swollen ego – it is the bold statement of a man used to  holding and defending dissenting views.