Kamal Haasan

Chennai, Nov. 15: If would-be teachers showed how “mobile” they could be during exams, Kamal Haasan wasn’t ready to take the call.

“We only borrow what we see in society as we have a dearth of stories. So don’t blame us,” the film icon told Madras High Court last week.

The response came after a judge wondered if some students of a teacher training institute, caught cheating with the help of mobile phones during exams, had been trying to emulate the actor in his movie Vasool Raja MBBS, the Tamil remake of the Sanjay Dutt-starrer Munnabhai MBBS.

“We’re a happening society and we only look to society for such ideas. After all, there is more blood and gore on news channels than in our movies,” the actor said.

Pointed out that movies, too, could have inspired a few shortcuts, Haasan said most viewers didn’t bring home what they saw on screens. “Even if a few take them home,” he added, “can we put up a slide during such scenes that says ‘Do not try this at home or school’?”

To be fair to Haasan, the actor has stopped smoking since he started campaigning for the Cancer Institute in Chennai a few years back. Following in his footsteps, other Tamil film stars like Rajnikanth, Vijay and Surya also cut out smoking scenes from their last few movies.

Haasan’s comments came at a hearing of petitions filed by 22 aspiring teachers who were caught cheating in exams last year using concealed mobile phones. Barred from appearing for exams for two years, they had challenged the punishment in the high court.

Justice K. Chandru said the method the students had been accused of using was strikingly similar to the movie Vasool Raja MBBS where the hero gets his replies using a concealed mobile phone.

“One begins to wonder whether our youth gets ideas from movies or if movies are portraying real-life situations,” the judge said, dismissing the petitions.

He also wondered what examples these candidates would set when they become teachers. “At least the examiners should be relieved that they only brought mobile phones into the exam hall and not knives and guns as in some northern states,” he added, justifying the action taken by the authorities.