KUALA LUMPUR: A 30-minute meeting between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Indian movie megastar Kamal Haasan yesterday has the social media abuzz with excitement with almost everyone chipping in their thoughts.
The Prime Minister uploaded a post on his social media, describing the meeting with pictures of the discussion.
“Taking a break from official duties, I had the opportunity to spend time with the well-known Indian artiste and superstar, Kamal Haasan.
“We had about 30 minutes to talk and exchange views on the film industry, including our stance against corruption,” Anwar said in his post.
The discussion was also attended by former human resources minister and MIC Deputy President Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
Social media users, supporters and detractors, did not waste the opportunity with many giving their thumbs-up over the meeting. Although the meeting was to exchange thoughts many expressed their wish for a clean government without corruption.
It must be noted that Kamal Haasan, through a video, had openly supported the Prime Minister when he contested the Port Dickson parliamentary by-election in Oct 2018 which spearheaded Anwar’s political comeback.
He is the founder of a political party called Makkal Needhi Maiam, which serves as a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.
Kamal Haasan, 70, is in the capital to promote the film ‘Indian 2’, the sequel to his 1996 blockbuster ‘Indian’.
‘Indian’, released in 1996, featured Kamal as a freedom fighter rebelling against corruption in India, which also creates conflict with his son involved in corrupt practices.
The film went on to be the highest-grossing Tamil film upon its release.
Besides Tamil, he has also appeared insome Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali films. Considered as one of the finest actors in Indian cinema, Kamal Haasan is also known for introducing many new film technologies and film making techniques to the Indian film industry.
He has won numerous accolades, including Four National Film Awards, Nine Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Four Nandi Awards, One Rashtrapati Award, Two Filmfare Awards and 17 Filmfare Awards South. He was awarded the Kalaimamani Award in 1984, the Padma Shri in 1990, the Padma Bhushan in 2014 and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2016.