'Art can come later, not the best time now': Kamal Haasan on shooting in Jammu & Kashmir

New Delhi: Home is Kashmir to Kanyakumari, says Kamal Haasan. So there is no reason to not make a film in Kashmir, but perhaps now is not the best time, he adds.

The veteran actor-filmmaker says his last movie Amaran, which he produced through his banner Raaj Kamal Films International but didn't act in, was shot in Kashmir just six months ago. He has also shot Abhay in Kashmir.

"Art can come later," he said, referring to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam and India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan that followed.

The audio launch promotions for his latest film Thug Life, where he reunites with Mani Ratnam after 1987's Nayakan, were put off after the attack, said the 70-year-old superstar, almost as well known in the north as he is in the south where he has done most of his films.

"In a critical moment like that, we postponed even our celebrations. We didn't resume Thug Life things (promotions) till we got a signal from our government and the Army," Haasan told PTI during a visit to the news agency's headquarters this week.

"We were waiting for that because we can't be celebrating while our boys are dying there. So that's my first feeling. I said art come later, that's what I thought... It might irritate even the locals...," he said.

Would he like to make a film in Kashmir to encourage tourism, which has taken a hit in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack?

"Maybe not now but I will do that because it's my place also... from Kanyakumari through Kashmir is my home. I still do believe it." The 2001 film Abhay, which featured Haasan in a double role, begins in Kashmir with the actor's character of a commando foiling a terror attack there.

Amaran, starring Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi was based on Major Mukund Vardharajan, who was martyred during a counter terror operation in Kashmir in 2014.

Haasan's latest film Thug Life is a gangster drama and is set to be released in multiple languages on June 5. It also stars Silambarasan TR, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Nasser, Joju George, Ashok Selvan, Ali Fazal and Sanya Malhotra.