PIL against Kamal Haasan in Chennai for insulting Hindu epic Mahabharat

- March 21, 2017

In an interview to a regional channel, Kamal Hassan said, "The country reads about the book in which a woman (Draupadi) was used as a pawn and was gambled away." The direct dig at the mythological book by the actor was not taken lightly.

The HMK in its complaint claimed that the remarks of the actor may incite enmity between groups and cause disturbance to public tranquillity. The HMK called Haasan an anti-Hindu and even questioned if he had any guts to speak against Bible or Quran in the same way.

CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING HAASAN

From Jallikattu to Dravidian politics, the actor is not new to controversies. Hassan, who is now working on his film Sabash Naidu, has been in the spotlight for his Jallikattu statement and later for the statements on the Tamil Nadu politics as well. While the actor's large fan base has been widely appreciative of his pro-activeness on social media, the latest has got him a lot of slack among the members of the Hindu religious group.

The attack on the actor has spurred the debate on freedom of speech and expression and intolerance towards individuals. "This is not the first time that Kamal has been attacked by religious fringe groups, earlier for Vishwaroopam too there was a lot of hue and cry by the Muslim groups in the state. The entire issue is a form of targeting by the AIADMK government against whom Kamal has been vocal," said A Saravanan, DMK spokesperson.

Congress spokesperson in the state, Khushboo Sundar said, "We need to give Kamal his space, he is just coming out of a personal loss. What he said should be taken in the right context. While talking about women's safety he has said this, it is an individual's perspective. These fringe groups are doing this only to get publicity."

This is not the first time that Kamal's statement has got him into trouble. His movie Vishwaroopam also got in trouble after protests by Muslim groups in the state. His Jallikattu remark was also one of the instigators for the people's protest in the state. Followed by this, he has been very vocal about the political turmoil in the state.

Earlier, Indian National League Party, an affiliate of the AIADMK in the state, filed a police complaint against Haasan for allegedly provoking general public against the elected representatives through his twitter posts.