As the debate over artists returning their awards rages on, Kamal Haasan made it clear that he will not return his National Award.

As the debate over artists returning their awards to protest the rising intolerance in the country rages on, actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday made it clear that he will not return his National Award.

"I won't do it. That's my right," Haasan said as he was addressing the media at a press conference. "Returning awards will not have any effect... It is also necessary for them (the people returning awards) to be tolerant," Haasan said.

"Kuchch nahi hoga (Nothing will happen)," Haasan said, responding to a reporter asking whether returning awards will have any effect in the country.

"You will insult the government and the people who gave the award to you," Haasan said. The actor also said that instead of returning awards, artists and writers should make films or write articles on the issue to raise awareness.

He also said that India had been intolerant even before the BJP government.

Kamal Haasan is not the only National Award-winning actor who refused to return his award. Last week, Vidya Balan had said that she will not give back her National Award as it was an honour bestowed on her by the country, and not the government.

The comment came in the backdrop of some eminent film personalities returning their National Awards in solidarity with FTII students and against growing intolerance in the country.

"This honour (the award) is by the nation and not the government. So I do not want to return it," Balan had said at the 'India Today Conclave' in Mumbai.

Filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan were among the 10 film personalities who had returned their National Awards in solidarity with FTII students and against growing intolerance in the country.

Banerjee and other filmmakers had said their decision to return the awards was taken in view of the apathy displayed by the government in addressing the issues raised by the FTII students and the general environment of intolerance against debate.

Shah Rukh Khan also spoke up on the issue of returning awards on Monday. He had said he supports the artists who have returned their awards and believes they are brave. However, he also said that he has never really been a part of something this “huge and meaningful” and he may return his Padma Shri “symbolically”.

With inputs from PTI