Clearing the path for the release of Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life in Karnataka, the Supreme Court said on June 19 that any kind of comment on emotive issues like language and caste was bound to hurt sentiments of someone or the other but that did not justify threat of violence against the screening of a film, show of a stand-up comedian or recital of a satirical poem.
A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan appreciated the stand of the Karnataka government in the apex court that the state government was duty-bound to give protection and security for such release and for the people connected therewith, including the cast, director, producers, exhibitors and the audience. The bench said, “Hurt sentiments cannot be a ground for the public to take the law into their hands. For any statement made by someone, there will be some other whose sentiments would be hurt. But this cannot be used to stop the release of a film which was duly certified by the CBFC or the show of a stand-up comedian or recital of a poem critical of a system or a person.”
The bench also noted that in India, there will never be an end to the hurt-sentiment phenomenon. However, for that, right to free speech cannot be jeopardised or the rule of law cannot be compromised, it emphasised.
The apex court, however, refused to lay down guidelines or impose costs on a vigilante group threatening the release of Thug Life in Karnataka, and closed the proceedings, saying that the state should act against anybody preventing the screening or resorting to violence. The court reasoned that there was no need to keep the matter pending any longer. The film’s producers, who had filed the petition in the Karnataka high court but which the apex court transferred to itself, said that though the non-release of the film in Karnataka along with the rest of India had cost them nearly Rs. 30 crore, they were now satisfied with the state government’s stand and did not want to pursue the petition. The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, which is a party in the petition, too said that though it was in negotiation with the producers to resolve the impasse arising from Kamal Haasan’s statement on the Kannada language, it would not, in view of he state’s stand, oppose the film’s release in the state. The Supreme Court also questioned the KFCC for seeking an apology from Haasan.
It may be recalled that the Karnataka government did not permit the film’s release following Kamal Haasan’s comment at a pre-release promotional event of the film that Tamil was the mother of the Kannada language.
