Actor Kamal Haasan made a candid remark about retirement at the literature and art festival Manorama Hortus the other day. Host Johnhy Lukose asked Kamal about the branding of his recent films as a comeback vehicle for him, especially in reference to Thug Life, and about the speculation on his retirement from acting before it. Addressing whether it is right to brand his films thus and whether the excitement for such films would be limited to the old generation and whether today's youngsters would prefer "a new combination" instead, Kamal said, "It is important to have the new." He went on to add, pointing at the audience, "If you must retire the old, they would do it."
The actor also said that nobody has asked him whether he would like to retire, but he feels like it "while doing bad films". He continued, "Then, my friends would say, "Do not stop acting with this. Do a good film and quit. I am still pursuing one such film."
Thug Life, which reunited the actor with his Nayakan (1987) director Mani Ratnam, did not do perform well at the box office. The film earned around 97 crore from theatres worldwide, according to Sacnilk data. This means that it failed to gross as much money as its production cost, which is reportedly between 200 and 300 crore. Thug Life released after Indian 2, which also failed at the box office. As per Sacnilk, Indian 2 grossed around 149 crore from theatres worldwide, way short of its reported budget of about 250 crore.
Kamal is expected to come back for a third part in the Indian franchise, alongside director Shankar. His upcoming projects also include one film with Rajinikanth and another with stunt choreographers turned directors Anbariv.
