Kamal Haasan not to return award

Renowned actor and producer Kamal Haasan on Tuesday swam against the tide by saying he would not return his Padma awards as a protest against “intolerance”.

Addressing a pre-launch press conference on his new bilingual movie “Cheekati Rajyam”, the 60-year-old Haasan said: “Returning awards is futile. It does not help anything. By returning the awards, you will just insult those who gave them to you; intolerance must be defeated intellectually.”

Haasan, who had won the Padma Shri in 1990 and Padma Bhushan last year, said this in reply to a question on whether he will also return his award in an expression of anguish. Several creative personalities across the country have given back their awards as a mark of protest against the incidents of “intolerance”.

The actor also said that intolerance has existed in India since 1947 and protests must not be targeted at one particular party.

“Intolerance was the reason why the nation has been split into two. If both India and Pakistan were together, we would have been a robust country and outsmarted counties like China,” he said. He also said the issue of intolerance should be debated once every five years.

“I think the writers, scientists and actors are angry  and won’t listen to my advice as they are also not tolerant enough to let go,” Haasan said, adding: “All these talented people could have chosen some other way to register their protests.”