Days after getting the nominated for a Rajya Sabha seat he was promised by his former-enemy-now-ally, the DMK, full-time actor/part-time politician and founder of the nearly invisible party in TN – Makkal Needhi Maiam, DMK stooge Kamal Haasan, was on a promotion spree for his upcoming film Thug Life.
During the promotion, he resorted to indulge in language politics, claiming Kannada was born out of Tamil and that he hated Sanskrit, and all that in what seems to be an effort to create controversy and buzz around the film.
As the comments on Kannada sparked backlash, he claimed he said it “out of love”. He also urged that complex and sensitive issues such as language origins should be left to experts in the field.
“What I said was out of love, and a lot of historians have taught me language history. I didn’t mean anything,” Haasan explained. He acknowledged that political figures, including himself, lack the academic background to make authoritative statements on linguistic history and should defer to scholars, archaeologists, and linguists for such discussions.
He added, “So the people will take care of Thug Life, Kamal Haasan and all these controversies. Politicians are not qualified to talk about language, they don’t have the education enough to talk about it, that includes me. So let’s leave all these very in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists and language experts. Both those who criticize me for this statement of love, I spoke to Mr Shivanna, his father is like my father, elder brother, whatever you call it, we are a family, and so are the languages. If you look at it from the northern point of view, yes what they say, according to them is right. If you look at it from ‘then-Kumari’, then what I said is right. There is a third angle to it, that is what I said, the scholars and language experts, they will say both are right, but they must decide where they want to belong, with their family or the languages that came from the north. That’s up to you; it’s a democratic country. This is not an answer, this is an explanation. Love will never apologize, thank you.”
No matter what he says, Kamal Haasan has been receiving more and more backlash wherever he goes. Speaking to the press outside the DMK headquarters in Chennai on 30 May 2025, Kamal Haasan firmly stated, “If I’m wrong, I’ll apologise. If I’m not, I won’t. This is my lifestyle, please don’t tamper with it.” Reaffirming his commitment to democratic principles, he added, “India is a democratic country, and I believe in law and justice.”
At this point, a reporter questioned his hypocrisy with respect to the DMK. He asked, “When you began the Makkal Needhi Maiam party, you objected to the dynastic politics which was destroying the state of Tamil Nadu, you started your party against them. But today you are their ally. What is your answer?”
Kamal began to run away from this question but turned back only to give a vague answer. He said, “The country needs me, that is why I have come.”
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