Kamal Haasan On 'Ondriyam' Controversy: India Has Forgotten The Term 'Tolerant'

Actor Kamal Hassan was in Delhi recently, to promote his new film ‘Vikram’. The actor talked about the controversy surrounding one of the songs from the movie. The first song ‘Pathala Pathala’ had created controversy for the usage of word ‘Ondriyam’ and many thought the song targets the union government. 

Speaking about the controversy, Haasan told India Today, "Ondriyam could be many things. One has to see the film to know why we have used this song here. It is because it suits the film. We are not EP, we are filmmakers, and I am a politician too so punning is something I like to do. But I think India has forgotten the term 'tolerant' and has also forgotten the word 'criticism'. There should be no criticism for what he did. Thank goodness I am not like that. I expect criticism for any of the films that I do. And I redeem myself, correct myself depending upon how sensible and justifiable the criticism is.”

He further said, "Every Union government should be targetted, whatever party it belongs to. The state should look at it and comment, critique it. That's democracy. Any government, anybody, whichever party it is. I am centrist. So I will think like that and you must let that kind of thinking grow. That's a quality of leadership, to take criticism when it comes and check it out whether it's justifiable instead of just quashing or silencing it.”

He was then asked about his experience while shooting for the ‘Vikram’, Haasan said, "I was away doing politics and I still am. I had a fantastic team, right from production. These are the kind of teams I have been dreaming of. This way, you have things in place with experts in each field working and taking care of that and defending their position properly. The product itself becomes better. Then the content has to be written well. We have been in production for 40 years and we have tried to keep the quality of films and make it successful also.”

‘Vikram’ is a high-octane action movie with Haasan in the lead. The film also features Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil with Kalidas Jayaram, Narain, Antony Varghese and Arjun Das. Actor Suriya also makes a cameo in the movie. ‘Vikram’ is slated for a June 3 release.