'Thug Life': Supreme Court To Hear Plea On Safety Regarding The Film's Screening In Karnataka

The Supreme Court agreed to hear plea to ensure the safe screening of Kamal Haasan’s Tamil movie Thug Life in Karnataka, reported The Hindu. According to the report, the court will hear the plea on June 13, with the court further directing the State government to take action against elements who have threatened and incited violence against theatre owners and makers of the Tamil film.

The petition to clear the film's release called the ban an "unconstitutional extra-judicial" one. “Instead of a clear directive to the State to stop the illegal threats and protect a certified film’s exhibition, fundamental to restoring law and order, the discussion reportedly focused on whether Mr. Kamal Haasan should apologise to the very fringe elements intimidating him and threatening public order. This effective endorsement of coercive censorship by suggesting compromise with perpetrators makes the High Court pathway currently ineffective for securing justice, compelling this urgent appeal in the Supreme Court as the ultimate guardian of the Constitution,” the petition read.

It further detailed how this episode targets linguistic minorities in the state. “This serious situation occurs within a disturbing societal context where chauvinistic elements have targeted linguistic minorities such as Hindi speakers in Bengaluru with impunity, fostering a climate of fear that now directly threatens constitutional order over this film…" the petition read, adding how a movie theatre in Bengaluru was threatened upon showing interest in releasing the film.

"Even as Victory Cinema, a movie theatre in Bengaluru, announced its intent to screen ‘Thug Life’, forces of intimidation struck openly. Mr. T.A. Narayana Gowda of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) publicly threatened to ‘set theatres on fire’ while social media was used for inciting a violent revival of the 1991 anti-Tamil riots,” the petition added.

The Mani Ratnam-Kamal Haasan film has been under scrutiny in the state ever since the actor remarked that "Kannada was born out of Tamil." Pro-Kannada groups and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce threatened to ban the film if the actor didn't apologise. The film, which was released worldwide on June 5 to mixed reviews, didn't get a release in the state, even as the actor refused to apologise for his comment.