Jun 04, 2025 09:55 PM IST
Rana Daggubati and Abhishek Banerjee spoke about how Kamal Haasan’s recent statement on Tamil and Kannada kicked up a furore and had this to say.
Actor Kamal Haasan finds himself in the midst of a language row ahead of the release of his film Thug Life. The Mani Ratnam-directed film has been barred from release in Karnataka, with Kamal doubling down and not apologising for a statement he made on Kannada being born out of Tamil. Recently, the Karnataka HC slammed his statement and called him out for not apologising. In an interview with India Today, Rana Daggubati and Abhishek Banerjee, however, said this when asked about it. (Also Read: ‘I thank the people of Tamil Nadu for supporting me’: Kamal Haasan in 1st press meet after Kannada language row)
Rana Daggubati questions why actors are looked up to
When asked to comment on Kamal’s language row, Rana questioned why actors are being looked up to for the way society lives instead of scholars or politicians. He said, “Now, social media has become a place to make an opinion. Earlier, you didn’t have that. Anything gets touchy and political quite quickly. If the media and the news, and people become smarter (and understand) that actors are not the ones to advocate for the way society lives – it will be a better place. I think you should look at scholars, politicians and learned men and women to lead a way into society.”
Abhishek Banerjee compares it to Marathi-Bihari row
His Rana Naidu co-star Abhishek also agreed with Rana and compared it to the Marathi-Bihari conflict in Maharashtra and said, “When I came to Bombay many years back, I heard the same thing about the Marathi-Bihari and Kannada-Tamil conflict, which has been going on. I feel it’s completely worthless and useless. People who don’t have anything better to do, will just try and get attention while doing this.” He also stated that language is great when used to educate people and cultivate culture, rather than to cause divide.
Thug Life will be released across the country on 5 June except for Karnataka. It remains to be seen if the move will affect its box office collections.
