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‘India is unique because…’: Kamal Haasan amid language row
Speaking at an event, the actor-politician described India as a ‘beautiful country’ whose citizens are united despite speaking different languages.
At a time when the nation is witnessing a language row of sorts, actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Thursday described India as a ‘unique country’ whose citizens, unlike their counterparts in the United States, are 'united despite speaking different languages.'
“While you plan for gold, you plan for new words. This pan-India has always been there…Shantaram ji did films. 'Padosan' is a pan-India film. I saw it, I went to see the film. He almost spoke Tamil, I'm talking about Mehmood ji. What do you call ‘Mughal-e-Azam?’ It's a pan-India film for me. So, it's nothing new,” the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief said at a promotional event in Delhi for his upcoming film ‘Vikram.’
The 67-year-old further said, “Our country is unique, unlike America… we're very different. We speak different languages but we're united, that's the beauty of this country. We will always be making pan-India films.”
Haasan made these remarks in response to a question by a reporter, who asked his opinion on ‘the concept of pan-India films suddenly hitting the headlines.’
A major controversy erupted last month over Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep's remarks that ‘Hindi is no longer a national language.’ Soon, actors and politicians from south India got involved, throwing their weight behind Sudeep.
Last Friday, prime minister Narendra Modi sought to put an end to this debate, saying that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sees a ‘reflection of India in every regional language and considers them worth worshipping.’
(With agency inputs)
