Dalai Lama asked me to propagate ahimsa through cinema: Kamal Haasan

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan, who met the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, said the Tibetan spiritual leader suggested that he uses cinema as a medium to spread ahimsa.

The Dalai Lama was here to launch the Abdul Kalam Seva Ratna Awards and deliver a lecture on Human Approach to World Peace at the IIT Madras, as part of its Extra Mural Lecture series.

"My lack of interest in matters of things spiritual in nature was matched by his disinterest in cinema. He has not watched a single movie, not even television. Yet he opined that I could use my craft and medium to propagate the great philosophy offered to the world by India: Ahimsa," Haasan said in a statement.

"I confirmed my faith in Ahimsa and said I will venture soon in that direction," he said.

Haasan, despite not being spiritually bent, termed the meeting as "invigorating" and "purposeful".

"For a man of his position, he indulged in small talk with abandon a sign of a man who had no worldly worries," he added.

Haasan's latest Tamil film "Thoongaavanam" released in cinemas on Tuesday.