Kamal Haasan lands in trouble after controversial Mahabharata remark

PIL filed against south superstar Kamal Haasan for alleged derogatory remarks on Hindu mythology, Mahabharata

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan has found himself in the middle of a police complaint following the alleged remark made on the Mahabharata, which did not go down too well with some religious groups. A police complaint has been filed against him in Bengaluru.

Religious group, Hindu Makkal Katchi filed a Public Interest Litigation with Tirunelveli District Court citing that Kamal Haasan’s remarks were disrespectful and hurt their religious sentiments. The complaint was filed on March 15, 2017.

It all started with an interview wherein the superstar stated that Indians were giving too much respect to a book in which women were treated as mere objects and gambled away for the pleasure of men.

“In Mahabharata, Panchali was used as a pawn while the men gambled,’ he also said that ‘she was used as a collateral and India is a country that respects and honours a book that revolves around men using a woman to gamble away as if she was a mere object.” – Kamal Haasan in an interview with a private channel.

Talking to a leading media outlet about the right winged religious group’s stance against the actor, State secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi, Rama Ravikumar told The News Minute,” Kamal Haasan said that Mahabharata talks about a woman (Draupadi) who was used as a pawn and was gambled away and that this country reads such a book. There was no need for him to say these things. It has hurt our sentiments and who is he to talk about the Mahabharata?. He does not have the guts to talk about any other religion. He is an anti-Hindu person, so we complained against him. We have been suffering for long but haven’t been saying anything.”

Adding on to Rama Ravikumar’s stance, HMK president Arjun Sampath spoke to leading daily HT and said, “Kamal Haasan has been repeatedly taking an anti-Hindu stand and it has increased during the recent times. He has needlessly criticised Mahabharat, which is a revered epic of the Hindus along with Ramayana. Can he dare to talk in an insulting manner about Islam or Christianity and Bible and Quran? There will be a massive campaign against Kamal Haasan if he does not apologize and withdraw his comments. Actually he has been a serial offender and we demand action be taken against him.”

Kamal Haasan is known for his straightforward views and opinions which have off-late been landing him in a soup. Recently, his remarks on the states political situation post Jayalalitha’s death did not go down too well with Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami.

The actor has not responded to the police complaint yet but it will be interesting to see what he has to say about these allegations against. We will be sure to let you know as soon as we have any updates on the fiasco!