'Actors becoming leaders is a disaster for my country,' says Prakash Raj

Actor Prakash Raj said on Sunday that others in his profession should be wary of joining politics, and he himself was not interested in doing so. “Film actors becoming leaders is a disaster for my country,” he said.

“I don’t like actors joining politics because they are actors and have fans,” Raj said, without taking any names. “They should always stay aware of their responsibility towards them.”

Raj’s comments come just days after actor Kamal Haasan said he was firm about his decision to enter politics. Reports have suggested Rajinikanth may also consider doing so soon.

On making it mandatory to sing the national anthem



before films in cinema halls, Raj said, “I don’t think someone should stand in cinema hall and show his or her patriotism.”

For the last few days, Raj has been posting tweets with the hashtag #justasking, in which he is critical of the government, the demonetisation move, censorship and moral policing. Last month, a case was registered against him in a Lucknow court after he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath were more deserving of his five National Awards as they were better actors than he was. He had also criticised the prime minister for his silence on journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder in September.