Actor-politico Kamal Haasan in the eye of Tamil-Kannada “Thug Life” storm

The 70-year-old actor whose screen debut was in 1960 as a child artiste has acted in 235 films and won many awards and laurels

Leading Tamil film actor Kamal Haasan – who is no stranger to Sri Lankan film fans – is very much in the news lately, for three reasons. Firstly the actor-politico will be elected in July to the Indian “Rajya Sabha” or upper house from Tamil Nadu state. Secondly the eagerly awaited film “Thug Life” directed by ace film maker Mani Ratnam has been released worldwide. Kamal is the lead actor and co-producer and co-script writer for the film. Thirdly the film “Thug Life” is caught up in a controversy due to views expressed publicly by Kamal Haasan. A battle between the Tamil and Kannada languages has been ignited and the film has not been screened in India’s Karnataka state. In short Kamal Haasan is in the eye of a politico-cinematic storm!

It is against this backdrop therefore that this column focuses on the actor turned politician this week. Kamal Haasan known popularly as Kamal, is arguably the finest actor in Tamil cinema today. He is also acknowledged as one of India’s foremost thespians. The multi-faceted artiste is a film director, producer, screenwriter, film lyricist, poet, dancer, choreographer and playback singer. The 70-year-old actor whose screen debut was in 1960 as a child artiste has acted in 235 films and won many awards and laurels. His adulatory fans hail their idol as “Ulaga Naayagan” or global hero.

The actor-politico’s latest film “Thug Life” was released on Thursday 5 June 2025. The film is directed by renowned film director Mani Ratnam who is married to Kamal’s niece, Suhaasini Haasan. She is an award-winning actress herself. In 1987, Kamal Haasan had acted in the lead role of Mani Ratnam’s milestone movie “Naayakan”. The artistically acclaimed epic film was a commercial success earning laurels for the actor and director. The film was adjudged by the prestigious “TIME” magazine as one of the 100 best films ever made.

“Thug Life”

After a lengthy gap of 38 years, Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam were associated in a film together with the making of Thug Life. The film was expected to create new box-office records. This however did not happen.

There are many who opine that Kamal Haasan has a penchant for saying or doing something that creates a stir around his newly released film. Kamal’s latest “Thug Life” seems to be no exception. The film tipped to be a pan-India box-office hit is mired in controversy in the South Indian state of Karnataka. The film was not released in Karnataka state on 5 June because of the controversy.

What happened was this. Kannada actor Shivrajkumar and Kamal were on stage in Chennai at the audio launch of Thug Life. Shivrajkumar is the son of legendary Kannada actor Rajkumar. Both Kamal and Shivraj are close friends. Addressing Shivrajkumar in a friendly manner and emphasising that they were like brothers, Kamal said “Your language (Kannada) was born out of Tamil, so you too are included in this family.” Unfortunately the remark was taken out of context by some who accused the Tamil actor of linguistic arrogance and insensitivity towards the feelings of Kannada speakers.

Dravidian languages

By saying the Kannada language was born out of the Tamil language, Kamal rushed into an area where many fear to tread. Tamil and several other South Indian languages like Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu belong to the Dravidian group of languages. There is however a dispute about the position of the Tamil language in relation to the other Dravidian languages. There is a tendency among many Tamils to insist that the Tamil language is the mother language and that the other Dravidian languages were conceived in the “Tamil womb”. On the other hand, the non-Tamil Dravidian language speakers, perceive their language group as a sisterhood of languages in which Tamil is the eldest sister and not mother.

The well-known Tamil writer Perumalmurugan in a recent essay published in “The Hindu” explained this issue in clear terms. Here are a few relevant excerpts:

Proto-Dravidian

“Actor Kamal Haasan’s remark that “Kannada was born from Tamil” has sparked several debates. But this is not a new idea; it has existed within the Tamil discourse for two centuries. Robert Caldwell and other linguists have said Dravidian languages branched off from a shared language, termed Proto-Dravidian.”

“However, Tamil nationalists have never accepted this view. They have claimed that all Dravidian languages are offshoots of Tamil. At its peak, this belief extended to proclaiming that Tamil is the world’s first language and that all other world languages were born from it.”

“Even today, these two schools of thought continue to thrive in the Tamil intellectual space. The idea of a Proto-Dravidian language has gained traction beyond Tamil Nadu. In contrast, the notion that Tamil is the source of all languages has little traction or acceptance outside.”

“We now live at a time when awareness around linguistic dominance has grown politically in India’s multilingual context. Every national group tends to hold its language as the primary marker of its identity. Any idea or action that is perceived as one that diminishes their linguistic pride often invites a fierce backlash.”

“In such a climate, it is more appropriate on public platforms to affirm the idea that all Dravidian languages emerged from a common Proto-Dravidian root. Culturally and politically, this view fosters harmony and equality.”

“To say other languages came from Tamil can easily be perceived by others as demeaning to their language and identity. They may see such a claim as a form of dominance imposed on them. For Tamil nationalists, who mix ancestral pride with political messaging, such assertions may help construct a narrative of ancient greatness. But beyond that, in contemporary politics, this view only serves to isolate Tamil Nadu. Without strong, widely accepted academic evidence, there is no need to insist that Tamil is the source of all languages.”

“Makkal Neethi Maiyam”

The wise words of Perumalmurugan indicate the blunder made by Kamal Haasan that has triggered hostility towards the actor-politico. What seems to have added fuel to the fire has been Kamal Haasan’s politics. Although a Brahmin by birth, Kamal is a self-declared atheist and rationalist. He is the founder-leader of a secular political party named “Makkal Neethi Maiyam” (Peoples Justice Centre) or MNM.

Kamal inaugurated his party officially on 21 February 2018. The party fielded candidates in 37 of the 39 Constituencies of Tamil Nadu state in the 2019 Indian Parliament elections. The party fared very poorly with all candidates losing their deposits. The MNM polled 1,613,708 votes (3.78%) in the State at the 2019 poll.

The MNM party contested the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in 2021. The MNM fared miserably at the 2021 polls thereby denting the larger than life image of Kamal Haasan. The MNM together with a few smaller parties contested all 234 seats in the Legislature at the 2021 polls in Tamil Nadu. The Kamal Haasan led alliance failed to win a single seat. The party leader Kamal lost by a narrow margin in the Coimbatore South constituency. The MNM got only 1,058,084 (2.45%) votes.

Despite the claim that the MNM is a centrist party, Kamal moved closer to the ruling Dravida Munntera Kazhagham (DMK) in Tamil Nadu after the election debacles. The DMK is a key member of the opposition party alliance led by the Congress party against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kamal’s political stature has received a tremendous boost after being nominated to Rajya Sabha membership by the DMK.

BJP President Vijayendra

So when Kamal came out with his controversial comment on Kannada and Tamil, the BJP was quick to seize the opportunity. According to a news report in “The Hindu”, Karnataka state BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra condemned Kamal Haasan’s remarks as “uncultured” and “insulting” to Kannada and its 6.5 crore speakers. “It is the height of arrogance that Kamal Haasan, who has acted in many Indian languages including Kannada, has insulted Kannada in the name of glorifying Tamil,” Vijayendra wrote on the social media platform X. He also questioned Haasan’s authority to speak on the linguistic origins of Kannada, saying, “He [Kamal Haasan] is not a historian.”

The BJP leader also accused Kamal Haasan of repeatedly hurting religious and cultural sentiments, stating, “Kamal Haasan, who is supposed to bring harmony to South India, has been continuously insulting Hinduism and hurting religious sentiments for the past few years. Now, he has insulted Kannada by hurting the self-respect of 6.5 crore Kannadigas.”

Apology demand

After the BJP attack, several pro-Kannada groups and organisations began protesting. Activists from the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike tore down posters of Thug Life in Bengaluru and issued threats of a statewide ban on the film. In an unexpected move, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) demanded that Kamal Haasan should issue an apology to Kannada speakers if he wanted his film Thug Life to be screened in Karnataka. Even Karnataka’s former BJP chief minister Yediyurappa and current Congress chief minister Siddaramiah came out with statements criticising Kamal.

Kamal Haasan however refused to apologise. He went public explaining that his remark was not intended to hurt Kannada sentiments and had been misunderstood. He said that he had only tried to shower love and that Love does not have to say “sorry”. 

Kamal Haasan in his capacity as co-producer went to Court to enable the release of his film in Karnataka. The Court however “advised” Kamal to issue an apology. The actor-politico refused saying that he would apologise only if he was wrong and that he was not wrong in this instance. Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life has not been screened in Karnataka.

Film flop shock

Adding to Kamal Haasan’s woes was another shock. His film “Thug Life”, tipped to be a box-office hit, flopped badly in theatres. The film’s world-wide theatrical collection amounted only to 100 million Indian rupees in the first six days. The film’s budget is said to be 3,000 million Indian rupees. The film’s poor showing in theatres is not due to the Kannada controversy. It is unclear as to why the film is faring badly in Tamil Nadu theatres. One explanation is that the film has not lived up to expectations. Another is about an ongoing social media campaign that vilifies the film, Kamal Haasan and director Mani Ratnam. There is suspicion that the campaign is politically motivated on account of Kamal’s alignment with the DMK and Congress.

There is no doubt that these are trying times indeed for Kamal Haasan. It is indeed a pity that the veteran artiste who has contributed immensely to Indian cinema should be subjected to such an ordeal. The campaign to prevent the screening of his film because of an allegedly offensive remark against the Kannada language amounts to economic blackmail. In such a situation, it may be worthwhile to briefly examine the man and his movie career.

“Kalaathoor Kannammaa”

Srinivasan Parthasarathy Kamal was born in Paramakkudi in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, India, on 7 November, 1954. He is the youngest of four children. His father Srinivasan was a lawyer and mother Rajalakshmi a housewife. Kamal acted first as a six-year-old in the film “Kalaathoor Kannammaa” in 1960. He won the Indian President’s gold medal for a child artiste then. After a few more films as a child actor during which time he acted along with the top Tamil trio – MGR, Sivaji and Gemini – Kamal went off-screen for some years.

Kamal was educated at Hindu Higher Secondary School in Thiruvallikerny (Triplicame) in Chennai. He dropped out of school early before completing his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) studies. His enlightened parents allowed him to pursue a career in the arts instead of forcing him to follow conventional courses of study. Kamal was involved in theatre and also learnt dancing. He joined the drama troupe T.K.S. Nataka Sabha run by the legendry T.K. Shanmugam as an understudy. Kamal also apprenticed under dance choreographer Thangappan.

Kamal re-entered cinema as an actor at the age of 16 in 1970. He danced in a song sequence (Visiladichaan Kunjugalaa) along with another former child star “Kutty” Padmini in the film “Maanavan”. Kamal also evolved into a jack of all trades in the film sphere. He tried his hand at different things by assisting directors, script writers, cinematographers and choreographers. Though Kamal initially wanted to end up as a film director, he was discouraged in this by his mentor K. Balachander. The famous film director encouraged Kamal to be an actor.

Began acting

Kamal began acting in smaller roles in films like Kurathi Magan and Arangetram. He even acted as the villain in films like Sollathaan Ninaikkirean and Vellikkizhamai Viratham. He got his first break as lead actor in 1975 in the film Pattaampoochi followed by Cinema Paithiyam. These were followed by three superb roles in films by maestro K. Balachander. They were Abhoorva Raagangal, Manmatha Leelai and Moodru Mudichchu. Then came another great director, Bharathirajah, who cast Kamal Haasan in path-breaking films like Pathinaaru Vayathiniley and Sigappu Rojakkal.

While the above mentioned films helped Kamal establish himself as a great actor, he also took on roles which helped him click at the box office. Films like Sahala Kalaa Vallavan, Guru, Kalyana Raman, Thoongathe Thambi Thoongathe, Indiran Santhiran and Vaalvae Maayam were all commercial successes.

Films with a difference

Having made a reputation as an artistic and commercial actor, Kamal Haasan started making and/or acting in films with a difference, ranging from rib-tickling comedies like Thenali and Panchathanthirm to suspenseful thrillers like “Vettaai Aadu Vilaiyaadu and Vishwaroopam. There were also movies par excellence like Devar Magan and Nayakan. The latter was included in the list of 100 best films by “Time” Magazine.

He also experimented at times by playing a woman in one film (Avvai Shanmugi) and making a silent movie without dialogue (Paesum Padam). In films like Gunaa and Aalavanthaan Kamal played mentally challenged persons. Kamal played a dual role as twins – one a dwarf – in the film “Aboorva Sagotharargal” and received much kudos. Kamal’s magnum opus was arguably “Thasaavthaaram” in which he enacted 10 roles surpassing Sivaji Ganesan’s nine in “Navarathri”. 

Compared to Tom Cruise

Some of his movies performed well at the box office while others did not. But Kamal Haasan was acknowledged as one of the finest and most popular actors in India. Kamal Haasan has often been compared to Hollywood’s Tom Cruise though the former’s acting skills are far above those of the latter.

He did not act in Tamil films alone but also in films made in other languages like Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada. But it was as a Tamil film hero that he made his mark. While some prominent playback singers lip synched for him in many films, Kamal Haasan also sang in his own voice in several films. He also choreographed many of his dances in addition to directing, producing, screenwriting, composing film songs, etc. Kamal Haasan has been associated with nearly 300 films in various capacities such as actor, director, producer, script writer, singer and choreographer.

Awards and laurels

The 70-year-old actor, in a career spanning more than six decades, has won many awards and laurels. Chief among them are the Indian National Award for best actor in three films, namely Moondraam Pirai directed by Balu Mahendra, Naayagan directed by Maniratnam and Indian directed by Shankar. He is the only actor from Tamil Nadu State to have won the Indian National Award for best actor thrice. Among his numerous awards are those bestowed by the prestigious cinema journal Filmfare. Kamal Haasan has won 19 Filmfare awards and has been nominated for 12 more. There may have been more but for the fact that Kamal Haasan wrote to Filmfare requesting the magazine not to nominate him for any more awards.

Six of Kamal’s films were nominated as India’s official entries to the annual Oscar awards competition conducted by the US academy of motion picture arts and sciences (AMPAS). He is the Indian actor with the highest number of Oscar-nominated films though none won any award. Kamal has also been given the Kalaimaamani Award by the Tamil Nadu State Government and received the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards from the Government of India. The French Government honoured him with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) award.

Daughters Shruti and Akshara

Kamal Haasan first married actress-dancer Vaani Ganapathy in 1978. They divorced in 1982. Thereafter, he had a live-in relationship with actress Sarika for some years during which his elder daughter Shruti was born in 1986. He formally married Sarika in 1990. Their second daughter Akshara was born in 1991. Both Shruti and Akshara are actresses now.

Kamal split with Sarika in 2002 and divorced in 2004. Later in 2005, he entered another live-in relationship, this time with actress Gautami who had a daughter from an annulled marriage. Kamal and Gautami broke up in 2016. Currently “film world gossip” links him with two actresses but there is no concrete evidence of the liaisons.

Rajya Sabha MP

Though Kamal Haasan has had very little formal schooling, he is very intelligent, well-read and knowledgeable. He has an avid interest in many matters and is a seeker of greater enlightenment. Kamal is arguably a great intellectual among film artistes. He has also maintained a keen interest in politics and the welfare of Tamil Nadu. There is little doubt that he would distinguish himself as a Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)