Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), May 28, 2025 (ANI): Actor Kamal Haasan, who faced criticism for his remark that Kannada originated from Tamil, addressed the controversy on Wednesday. He explained that his comment was made "out of love" and added that politicians should leave such discussions to language experts.
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00:00See, they are confusing the issue. I think what I said was said out of love.
00:07Let me tell you, Tamil Nadu is a place which has been open.
00:12I don't say that there's no other state like that, but very rare state.
00:17Politicians are not qualified to talk about language.
00:21They don't have the education enough to talk about it. That includes me.
00:26This is not an answer. This is an explanation.
00:30Love will never apologize.
00:33A statement by you during a promotion which said that Kannada was born from Tamil has created quite a controversy.
00:43And many Kannada groups are protesting this. There is protest happening in Karnataka.
00:48And Kannada Raksana Vedike has said that if you don't apologize, there will be boycotting the movie Thug Life.
00:53See, they are confusing the issue.
00:55I think what I said was said out of love and with a lot of historians who have taught me language history and that.
01:08I didn't mean anything.
01:10And let me tell you, Tamil Nadu is a place which has been open.
01:15I don't say that there's no other state like that, but very rare state where a Mainan has been our chief minister.
01:24A Reddy has been our chief minister.
01:28A Tamil Nadu has been chief minister.
01:35When there was a problem in Chennai, which came from that chief minister who hailed from Karnataka, it was Karnataka who gave me support.
01:56The Kannadikas said, come here, we'll give you a house, don't go anywhere.
02:01So the people will take care of Thug Life, Kamalahasan and all these controversies.
02:07Politicians are not qualified to talk about language.
02:12They don't have the education enough to talk about it.
02:15That includes me.
02:16So let's leave all these very in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists and languages experts.
02:30Both those who criticized me for this statement of love, I spoke to Mr. Sivarnath.
02:38His father is like my father, elder brother, whatever you call it.
02:43That we are a family and so are the languages.
02:47If you look at it from the northern point of view, yes, what they say according to them is right.
02:53If you look at it from Tenkumari, then what I say is right.
02:58There's a third angle to it.
03:00That's what I said the scholars and language experts.
03:04They will say they both are right, but they must decide where they want to belong.
03:10With their family or the languages that came from the north.
03:15That's up to you.
03:16It's a democratic country.
03:19This is not an answer.
03:21This is an explanation.
03:23Love will never apologize.