Kamal Haasan, who is gearing up for the release of his film Thug Life with filmmaker Mani Ratnam, has found himself in the middle of a controversy. His comment that Kannada language was born out of Tamil sparked backlash on social media, with many netizens even wanting to boycott his new film. However, in a recent interview, Kamal Haasan issued a clarification on his comment over the Kannada language.

“I think what I said was said with a lot of love. Historians have taught me the language history…I didn’t mean anything. And, let me tell you, Tamil Nadu is a place which has been open. I don’t say there is no other state like this. But a very rare state where a Menon (MG Ramachandran) has been our Chief Minister…a Reddy (Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar) has been our Chief Minister, a Tamilian (M Karunanidhi) has been our Chief Minister and then a Kannadiga Iyengar has been our CM from Mandya,” the actor said as quoted by PTI.

He further added, “So let’s leave all these very in-depth discussions to historians, archaeologists and language experts. If you look at it from the northern point of view, according to them it is right, if you look at it from Thenkumari (south), then what I say is right. There is a third angle to it– the scholars, the language experts. This is not an answer, an explanation. Love will never apologise.”

On the work front, Kamal Haasan is currently busy promoting Thug Life. The movie also stars Trisha, Silambarasan, Abhirami, Sanya Malhotra, Ashok Selvan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Rohit Saraf and Vaiyapuri.