Is 'Thug Life', A Tamil Phrase? Tamilisai Soundararajan Slams Kamal Haasan Over Kannada Remarks

Former Telangana Governor and Tamil Nadu BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan has slammed actor Kamal Haasan over his 'Kannada born out of Tamil' controversy, questioning him why he used 'Thug Life', an English name, as the movie title.

What Tamilisai Says?

Speaking to reporters, Tamilisai Soundararajan, "... People are telling me that if I don't support Kamal Haasan, then I am not a Tamilian. I ask Kamal Haasan, if he is a true Tamilian, why didn't he coin his movie in Tamil?... What is 'Thug Life'? Is it a Tamil phrase?... When it's about business, he doesn't respect Tamil. At the peak of his career, he didn't express his respect for Tamil. He was acting in Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films."

She then slammed the actor for dividing people based on the language. "Now he wants to publicise his movie on an emotional basis. He is thanking the DMK government for offering him a Rajya Sabha seat. Initially, he said that he started the party only to challenge DMK... Now he is dividing the people in the name of Tamil..." the former Tamil Nadu BJP chief added.

Kamal Haasan's Thug Life had run into trouble after he made the controversial remarks during a promotional event for the movie. He made those remarks in front of Kannada actor Shivaraj Kumar.

The pro-Kannada groups and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce had threatened to ban the movie. Kamal then approached the Karnataka High Court where the actor was slammed for his remarks. "What has happened because of it is unrest, disharmony. People of Karnataka only asked apology. Now you come here seeking protection. On what basis have you made the statement, are you a historian, linguist. On what basis did you speak," the court said, seeking his apology.

However, Kamal choose not to release the movie in Karnataka as he was not willing to give an apology.