New Delhi, June 3 -- The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rapped actor and MNM chief Kamal Haasan for his controversial remarks that "Kannada was born out of Tamil". While hearing a petition seeking a direction to authorities not to take any measures to restrain the actor's film from releasing, the court said, "You may be Kamal Haasan or anybody, you cannot hurt the sentiments of the masses."

"There is no apology in it. You may be Kamal Haasan or anybody, you cannot hurt the sentiments of the masses. The division of this country is on linguistic lines. A public figure cannot make such statements. What has happened because of it is unrest, disharmony. People of Karnataka only asked for an apology. Now you come here seeking protection," the...