Superstar Kamal Haasan has just forayed into politics with his party Makkal Needhi Maiam which has brought him on a face to face competition with another south superstar Rajinikanth, who is also gearing up to launch his own party.
However, Haasan believes that there can be “no competition in public service.” The actor, who was in Mumbai to promote his forthcoming Hindi-Tamil bilingual Vishwaroop II, told MyNation, “We don’t think of competition in public service. Everybody is doing that. If he is able to do it better, good luck to him.”
Why did he choose to enter politics? The 63-year-old explained, “It is very important because it dominates our life, convolutes our life, conducts our life. So, we have to take the handle in our hand and re-conduct that. If I don’t do what I am doing now, I will not be able to rest back and will keep complaining about potholes.” The actor-politician agrees that south Indian politics is infested with corruption saying, “This is very true and that’s why I have come.”
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When asked whether he has plans to venture into national-level politics as well, Haasan replied, “There is nothing called regional and national. Once you call this a country, any ripple in any corner of the country is national politics. Kashmir is a part of my country; Tamil Nadu is also a part of it. A Thoothukudi firing or a Kashmir firing affects the country.”
What kind of change does he see if his party wins the forthcoming elections? The MNM supremo replied after a pause, “Slow and steady. Instead of older persons like me coming later realising with guilt, guiltless, there should be young, happy people getting involved with enough anger, enough strength in their legs and enough passion in their heart to come and push the country forward.”
The actor cum filmmaker, who is known for his unique concepts and making films which are way ahead of their time, feels, “I was working towards excellence and my whole career is proof of it. I could have pursued only success but that would not have made me a respectful man in my own eyes. When I look at my face, I want to be proud, I want to look in the eye and not look away.” His definition of politics is also quite interesting. He added, “I am proud of what I did and tomorrow I must go out to enjoy what I am doing. I have not worked for the past 35 years now. It’s a holiday, they pay me. That’s how I have lived that life. Now, I am going to refuse payment and just have a holiday with people. That’s politics for me.”
His forthcoming film is titled Vishwaroop II in Hindi and Vishwaroopam II in Tamil. It’s a prequel cum sequel to his 2013 spy thriller Vishwaroopam which courted controversy and was banned in Tamil Nadu by the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa after protests from Muslim groups. However, Haasan, who is the writer, director, producer and protagonist of the movie, feels “Controversy was created, it did not have anything controversial.” He added, “It is like saying Muslims are being insulted in Amar Akbar Anthony. Why would they name it like that? The idea is to get all communities to come and watch the film. If you want to nitpick on any film, you can also call Roti Kapada Aur Makaan an insulting film. You are insulting sardars because Prem Nath saab was playing a sardar. If you make a film on alcoholism, the protagonist will be an alcoholic. That doesn’t mean I am selling booze. The controversy that happened with Vishwaroopam was pure, ugly, tyrannical politics.”
Vishwaroop II stars Rahul Bose, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Shekhar Kapur and veteran actress Waheeda Rehman. The film is slated to hit theatres on August 10th.
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