Prior to the release of Thug Life, Kamal Haasan mentioned in a press meet that the film’s OTT release will come only eight weeks after the film’s release. However, the Mani Ratnam directorial has now premiered on Netflix, just four weeks after the film’s theatrical release.
Reportedly, as the film breached the national eight-week window for a theatrical release, the film's producer, Kamal's Raaj Kamal Films International, has faced a penalty of 25 lakh. Also starring Silambarasan in the lead, Thug Life performed underwhelmingly at the box office, collecting less than Rs 100 crores worldwide.
Thug Life, which saw the reunion of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan nearly four decades after Nayakan, also ran into troubled waters after Kamal Haasan’s comment upon the Kannada language caused a ban on the film in Karnataka. While the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the film’s release cannot be legally stopped on such grounds, the film was still facing roadblocks in Karnataka, as the distributor pulled the plug. This has also contributed to the underwhelming performance of the film in terms of viability.
Thug Life tells the story of a gangster and his adopted son (Silambarasan TR), who turns against the former as he discovers dark secrets about his past. The film received largely middling reviews, which was also a contributing factor to its lack of success. The film also stars Nasser, Trisha, Abhirami, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Ashok Selvan, among others. The film marks Kamal's second back-to-back failure at the box office after Indian 2, directed by S Shankar.
An excerpt from CE’s review of the film reads, “Considering Thug Life is more tell than show for most of the time, the film needed to operate more in the drama space instead of becoming an action extravaganza. While the action sequences were indeed fantastic, especially the ones in a railway station and a cramped home, they are, once again, crammed into the narrative with very little breathing space.”
The technical crew of Thug Life features cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, music director AR Rahman, editor Sreekar Prasad and action directors Anbariv. The film is a co-production between Udhayanidhi's Red Giant Movies, Kamal Haasan's Raaj Kamal Film International, and Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies.
