Hate that we see today is synthetic, manufactured: Kamal Haasan

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: There are few actors in India who are as respected as Kamal Haasan who has had a career spanning over six decades. He joined Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra as it reached Delhi on December 24th and said the reason why he was doing it was to commend Rahul for reaching people and listening to them instead of lecturing from a podium.

“You need to understand the nation before you fight for it,” said the veteran actor to Gandhi in a chat shared on YouTube. Haasan also spoke up about his own shifting political opinions, saying "My father was a Congressman, but my environment made me a bitter critic of Gandhiji when I was in my teens.

Around 24- 25, I discovered Gandhiji on my own, and over the years, exponentially, I have become a fan," Kamal Haasan said, adding that he made Hey Ram (in which he plays a parallel assassin who wanted to kill Mahatma Gandhi but changed his mind when he got closer to him) to correct himself and "say sorry to Bapu''.

He added that assassination is the worst form of criticism. When Rahul asks him if he thinks hatred is just blindness and misunderstanding, he replies that it was synthetic and manufactured. 

“If you go to places like Kerala, amity prevails, until you doctor it. I think there are more sides to it than just Hindu and Muslim, we have to understand that this country will only flourish with its plurality,” he said. Gandhi quizzed him further about Tamil culture and how it’s different from the rest of India.

“When it comes to Tamil Nadu, they always feel it is an island… with a parochial mindset and language chauvinism. At a particular point, there was a feeling that there is apathy from the Centre. They are unhappy with what is happening now, but that is not permanent,” he replied. Haasan believes that the next satyagraha is skills development for India pointing out that there were very few opportunities for film training.

“We are a young democracy that still resembles monarchy in the way politicians treat people as subjects. People need to engage in politics, not just during election time, but throughout the term,” said Haasan