Thug Life Cast/Actors: Kamal Haasan, Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Mahesh Manjrekar, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Sanya Malhotra, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George & Others
Thug Life Movie Director: Mani Ratnam
Thug Life Movie Production House: Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies & Red Giant Movies
Thug Life Movie Release Date: 5th June, 2025
Thug Life Movie Available On: Theatrical Release and (likely to be released on Netflix OTT Platform)
Thug Life Movie Released/Available In Languages: Tamil, Hindi, Telugu & Malayalam
Thug Life Movie Runtime: 2h 46m
Thug Life Movie Critic Review:
The spiel amounts to thuggery: director Mani Ratnam and actor Kamal Hassan took 38 years to come together again after Nayakan (1987) because it took them that long to find a subject that would match the class of their iconic outing. Additionally, there’s a tale about how many decades Kamal took to write one of his favourite stories which was put on the backburner until Mani and he collaborated on it. Mani rewrote and polished it, the two cinematic geniuses from Tamil Nadu put their heads together and finally pooled their names to produce their next ‘gem’. It was to be titled Kamal Haasan 234 as it would be his landmark 234th film. But voila, it became Thug Life and here it is.
But you wish they’d prolonged the 38 years of separation by never coming together again if the weary story of a Yama-defying gangster is all they could come up with.
A glimpse at the plot. In a nod to his name Sakthivel Naicker in Nayakan, Rangaraaya Sakthivel Naicker (Kamal Haasan) and Yama, the God of Death, have clashed many times. But Yama have always given Sakthivel another chance at life.
At a meeting between gangsters, rival Sadanand (Mahesh Manjrekar) has tipped off the cops to nab Sakthivel. You’d think this rivalry that would be the potent core of the lengthy drama. Especially when Sadanand’s cocaine-snorting young nephew spurns his pregnant girlfriend who jumps off the terrace and the girlfriend happened to be Sakthivel’s niece. The creepy nephew is bumped off in a revenge killing by Sakthivel. Sakthivel heads to jail.
Some ancient debate creeps in here when brother Manickam (Nassar, another repeat from Nayakan) mourns his daughter’s loss and blames Sakthivel for cajoling him to send her to college. The argument equates educating girls with untimely pregnancies and suicides as the only way out. Ho hum, Mani Ratnam, expected better from you.
But none of this ups the intensity of the Sadanand-Sakthivel rivalry.
It is the Naicker family that implodes. Years ago, at the shootout with the cops which Sadanand had orchestrated, a newspaper delivery man had been killed as collateral and Sakthivel had escaped. But he’d paused to pick up the slain delivery man’s orphaned son Amaran (Silambarasan) to bring him up as his own. He’d also promised Amar that one day he’d find him his estranged kid sister, Chandra.
Back to the present, it’s the ideal fantasy setting for most heroes and Sakthivel gets it. Saucy, doting wife Jeeva (Abhirami) at home and silent, beautiful mistress Indrani (Trisha Krishnan) outside. Sakthivel dismisses it as, “A bimari, like Blood Pressure.” Jeeva is the one he grabs and smooches on the lips. Indrani is the one to whom he says, “Madam, I’m your only Adam.” She’s the woman he rescued from a den of vice in his quest to find Amar’s sister Chandra.
The only blip: Amar also sees himself as Indrani’s only Adam.
In an elaborately written screenplay where brilliance doesn’t match the length, Mani Ratnam writes in a marriage between two castes. Making these social statements in cinema has become more important than telling a good, gripping story with magnetic freshness.
Sakthivel soon emerges from jail only to find equations changed. He’d named Amar as the man in charge, making brother Manickam bristle at the humiliation of being overlooked for the top post. But inexplicably, Amar and Manickam have buddied up and made a pact with rival Sadanand.
With a bit of snitching from Manickam about who shot his father, Amar is ready to oust Sakthivel.
Action scenes shot in snow as Saktivel heads to Nepal to visit Mansarovar, cars chasing, crashing, colliding, rolling over, are all well shot. But nothing stands out as something never seen before.
AR Rahman is a disappointment as none of his tunes or BG score elevate the film at any level.
Kamal Haasan is Kamal Haasan all the way – not kamaal in any way. All other characters weave in and out, including Sanya Malhotra in a why-did-she-do-it dance while yet another forgettable Rahman tune plays on. Yama takes away most of the gang, leaving only survivor Sakthivel behind. But hey, Sakthivel does find Chandra for Amar. A tad too late in the day, as it turns out.
By the way, Sakthivel on one of his prodigal returns, finds his grandson (from the inter-caste marriage, remember?) has been named Sakthivel in his honour – another repeat from Nayakan.
Thug Life Watch Or Not?: Revisit Nayakan if you want to remember Kamal and Mani in their prime.
Thug Life Review Score Rating: 2 out of 5 (i.e. 2/5)
Thug Life Official Trailer:
Credits: Saregama Music
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