Kannada Composer Hamsalekha Apologises For Controversial Remarks About Jainism

Sandalwood music composer and scriptwriter Hamsalekha recently faced backlash, following his remarks about the Jain philosophy. The comment he made during the public event outraged the Jain community. He questioned about the 24-birth philosophy in Jainism during the event. His comments went viral on social media, leading to a demand for an apology from him. Earlier, at a private event, Hamsalekha spoke about the Jain community during the song launch program of the film titled Gowri. He said that there are 24 births in the Jain community, which is bullshit. He said that there are neither 24 births, nor 54 births.

In the same instance, he apologised and acknowledged his words through a video message and a written statement. He addressed the controversy in the video and said, “Please forgive me. I have never thought of speaking against Jainism. It was wrong to say that.” He also said that he had no intention of offending the people of the community. He further assured that he would be more careful with his words and would not repeat such mistakes in the future.

Hamsalekha also appealed to forgive his lapse and said, “I am Pampa’s (Adikavi Pampa) servant. I stand in the service of that great man who built Kannada. I have apologised in a letter and posted it.”

In his written statement, he said, “My word usage is not intended. The word was heard in the crowd of noisy, tense cameras. I apologise to the Jain community for giving a culture of sacrifice and tolerance to the world.”

He further asked the media to delete the word, “Dear media, please DELETE THAT * BULLSHIT * WORD I HURTEDLY SAID. I hereby request to heal the wound of Jain Kavi Muni heritage, which is the root of Kannada poetic heritage. I thought it was a punishment and a curse for movie writers like me who COIN the words.”

“This is the background of that ‘word’ that came out of my mouth. The channel grabbed hands for individual bites. Then I got out of my anger. Anger is a bug. But that word should not have come,” it read.

In the same program, Hamsalekha also expressed his opinion about the increasing number of dark experiments, the use of guns, and attacks in films.