As the Cauvery dispute has snowballed into a raging fire with the Tamils in Karnataka bearing the brunt of fringe groups who mercilessly attack innocent people and have set fire to hundreds of vehicles bearing the Tamilnadu registration.

While criticisms are leveled at major stars like Rajini maintaining silence, veteran actor-director K.Bhagyaraj has come out in defense of his colleague. At a recent audio release function Bhagyaraj said that being an artiste is a tough job because if the Kannada stars don`t speak against Tamils their houses will be stoned and similarly even here if the actors don`t speak out they will be criticized. He added that even when ordinary actors face this situation he can imagine how Rajinikanth will be in a delicate position for coming from Karnataka and becoming a Superstar in Tamil Nadu.