India, June 18 -- Thug Life, the Kamal Haasan-starrer, is set for a theatre release in Karnataka after the Supreme Court observed that mobs can't decide if a film certified by the Central Board of Film Certification should have a public screening. A day after the Court's strong words on the matter, protestors said they will accept the Court's wisdom. Earlier, pro-Kannada outfits insisted they would allow the screening of Thug Life in the state only after Haasan apologised for his remark that Kannada was derived from the Tamil language. Kannada scholars contend that Kannada and Tamil are sister languages.

The apex court wisely stayed out of the language debate and rightly framed the issue as one of free speech. First, it stated that the r...