Kamal Haasan condoles Robin Williams death

Chennai: Actor Kamal Haasan today condoled the death of Oscar winning actor-comedian Robin Williams, saying the actor "brought dignity to male crying".

"Comedians are invariably critics of society who have masked their anger with humour. Constantly maintaining a funny facade leads to depression. Robin Williams true nature is being quick to tears. You can see it in his films," Haasan said in a statement.

"Williams could have never become a star in the 1960s, for American film heroes were too scared to cry on screen," said Haasan, whose "Avvai Shanmughi" in Tamil and "Chachi 420" in Hindi is believed to be inspired by Williams' popular movie "Mrs Doubtfire".

"The Vietnam war changed the American psyche. Rambo was the first popular action hero to show panic cry and scream in fear. Robin Williams brought dignity to male crying. I like him for his talent," he said.

On the suspected suicide of Williams, he said, "if the alleged story about his suicide is true then I dislike him for ending his life before his due date of expiry. That's a cop out that I don't expect of an artist of his calibre. Same applies to my Indian Idol Guru Dutt".