Kamal Haasan has always been vehemently vocal on issues that he believes in. But when he spoke in favour of the banned Jallikattu sport in Tamil Nadu — which animal activists have declared inhuman — a lot of eyebrows shot up in dismay and disgust.
Kamal Haasan remains steadfast in his belief that Jallikattu has a place in the Tamilian socio-cultural context. Argues Kamal, “It is a sport older than Christ and Buddha. It is not a matador versus bull kind of an unfair and cruel match. The original Tamil name for the sport is called Eru thazhuvudal, meaning embracing the bull. Using any weapons against the bull is considered foul and cowardly”
But hasn’t the traditional definition of this sport, over time, been barbaric and inhuman? Kamal Haasan concurs, “Yes, over a period of time, with no proper monitoring of the sport, certain excesses might have come into practice. If those violent practises are eschewed and older traditions are brought into the sport, it might cease to concern animal lovers.”
The difference, according to Kamal Haasan, between other combat sports and Jallikattu, lies in the spirit of the ritual. “The players, who run with the bull, love the animals too. Just because you do not see animals playing traditional roles it doesn’t mean they are being tortured. In Rajasthan, camels are used as beasts of burden sometimes pulling at nearly a one-ton load. In some places in India, camels are slaughtered for meat.”
Kamal also questions the connection between animal rights and vegetarianism. “Being vegetarian does not constitute ahimsa. Vegetarians eat plants. Jagdish Chandra Bose’s discovery and research has proven without doubt that plants sleep at night and awaken during the day like us. They discern pain and fear like, just as we do. Just because they don’t scream and squeal in a way we understand does not exclude them from pain or cruelty.”
Delving further on the subject of cruelty to animals, Kamal points out that lacto-consumption is also a form of violence to animal rights. “Milk is meant for calves. Stealing their quota and milking the cow on an everyday basis is cruel.”
The actor proudly declares himself a bull lover, who also loves the banned bull sport Jallikattu.
“I am probably the only or maybe one of the few actors who actually trained to embrace the bull. I personally owned three bulls for a few years. I filmed Jallikattu in my film Tamil Virumandi. My bulls were the chief guests on stage when we released the film’s music. They lived and died without pain. Like me, they too acted in films, and they did not end up in anybody’s plate. Even my dogs roam free in my house and are not chained.”
