The Kamal Haasan starrer Thug Life is in trouble in Karnataka because of the star’s remark that Kannada came out of Tamil. The film industry in Karnataka has demanded an apology from him before clearing the film for release, but Kamal has refused to do so. A court in Bengaluru, too, has indicated in a statement that includes local language phrases that the sentiments of the masses cannot be hurt so casually and has thought that an apology would be required. Without that apology, the film may find it difficult to be released in Karnataka.
All South Indian languages came out of a common source that resembles them to different degrees. But if someone says that one of them came out of another, it is like equating a language as it is spoken today with that source. It has been found, for instance, that Proto-Dravidian, a reconstructed source for South Indian languages, has commonalities with a language spoken near the Zagros mountains in Iran—since the Harappans are supposed to have been a mixture of early Indians and migrants from that region. In any case, all these are academic exercises and cannot have much bearing on the controversy, because that stems from political loyalties and beliefs.
The creation of linguistic states was a rational decision, but it had major repercussions that were not anticipated. It created language loyalties in pockets where Hindi was not widely spoken, like South India. The Devanagari script is associated with Sanskrit, which has Brahminical associations, and language in South India has also become connected to caste issues.
Caste is a key political issue, especially in Tamil-speaking regions even from the colonial era, and language has become a burning issue by association. Opposition to Hindi in South India is therefore much more complicated than merely antagonism towards a language. Language loyalties build chauvinism and that tends to spread; once it spreads, local hostilities tend to fester based on language.
Public sentiment is an issue that needs to be examined, but it can be nebulous since there is no way of accurately knowing what the ‘public’ feels. But sections of it find leaders, even if their popularity is never actually tested.
When the sentiments of an ethnic group are hurt, it is usually a leadership launching a campaign as a way of addressing that community. When language is an issue, film industry stalwarts often ascend to the position of leaders with widespread tacit approval. Campaigns of this sort are even deemed necessary.
Kamal Haasan is not just any film star but one with political ambitions. Stardom in cinema may lead to political success, but on studying successful stars in South India, one finds they have either a had dominant caste group behind them—as in Telugu cinema, where NT Rama Rao was a Kamma and Chiranjeevi is Kapu—or they must have emerged from an existing political movement—like MG Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu. Ambarish in Karnataka was a Vokkaliga, a dominant group.
Kamal Haasan is a Brahmin in state that has been strident anti-Brahmin politics since the 1920s. He may have just found a secure way into the Rajya Sabha, but it has been through the good offices of the DMK. Given the planks the DMK stands on, Kamal Haasan has to exhibit enough Tamil nationalism to counterbalance his caste identity.
One of the most underrated qualities that a politician can possess in the present political climate is perhaps the capacity to remain silent. Silence can also create controversies, but those are usually mild. If a leader must speak out, it is best done through vacuous phrases and lofty sentiments—that no one believes in, but to which exception cannot be taken either. The trick is to be very voluble without admitting anything in public that anyone can latch on to.
The eulogy of a language can become very useful in politics, but only in the territory associated with that language. Any drawing of a relationship between that language and another would be fraught with danger, since that would amount to taking sides. Now that Kamal Haasan has spoken, he will find it hard to retract it. Something that seems innocuous can make life difficult in politics.
(Views are personal)
M K Raghavendra
Cultural critic, winner of the Swarna Kamal for film criticism, and author of Philosophical Issues in Indian Cinema
