Director Ram Gopal Varma, who chose to express his disapproval of the threats being issued to actor Kamal Haasan over his recent comment on the origin of Kannada, put out a tweet on Monday calling the threat to ban the actor's upcoming film 'Thug Life' unless he tendered an apology as "a new kind of hooliganism".
 
However, the director swiftly deleted the tweet but not before it had been seen by those on social media.

Taking to his X timeline, Ram Gopal Varma had said,"DEMOCRACY’s new name is INTOLERANCE..irrespective of factual correctness , threats to ban #ThugLife in Karnataka unless @ikamalhaasan apologises , amounts to a new kind of HOOLIGANISM."

Ram Gopal Varma's tweet came even as the language row between Kannada groups, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and language activists on the one hand and actor Kamal Haasan on the other intensified.