India, June 3 -- Actor Kamal Haasan told the Karnataka high court on Tuesday that he will not release his upcoming film Thug Life in Karnataka "for now," asserting that he had "nothing to apologise for" amid a growing controversy over his remark that the Kannada language was "born out of Tamil."

Haasan's counsel, senior advocate Dhyan Chinappa, informed a bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna that the actor and his production company, Raajkamal Films International, had decided to withhold the film's release in the state at least until they engage in a "dialogue" with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), which has demanded an apology and barred the film's screening in the state.

The decision followed strong observations from the cou...