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Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life, caught in a controversy over the actor’s comment on Kannada language, will not be released in Karnataka on June 5, the scheduled date for the release of the movie across the country, its producers informed the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday. According to some industry experts, the film may lose at least Rs.30 crore if it fails to get released in Karnataka. Kamal has refused to apologise for his comment, saying that his comment “said out of genuine affection for the legendary Rajkumar’s family, especially Shiva Rajkumar, has been misunderstood and taken out of context.”

When a petition filed by the film’s production house, Raaj Kamal Films International, seeking police protection for the movie in Karnataka, came up for hearing before Justice Nagaprasanna on Tuesday, counsel for the petitioner said that there was no malice and an apology was not warranted. The petitioner submitted that the screening of the movie would not be insisted upon in Karnataka till the issue gets resolved through dialogue. The court then posted the case to June 10 for further hearing.

During the hearing, Haasan came in for strong criticism from the court for his remark suggesting that “Kannada was born out of Tamil,” and the court observed that a “single apology could have resolved the situation.”

Justice Nagaprasanna asked, “Are you a historian or a linguist to make such a statement? No language is born out of another.” Further, the judge said no citizen has the right to hurt sentiments and underlined that an apology “even a symbolic one,” was missing. To this, the counsel for petitioner submitted that “an apology is needed when there is malice, not for a misunderstanding.” Justice M Nagaprasanna said the actor’s statement has triggered ‘certain unrest in Karnataka’, and held that it undermined the Karnataka people’s sentiment of language.