The much-anticipated reunion of legendary filmmaker Mani Ratnam and superstar Kamal Haasan, after 37 years, hasn’t quite met expectations. Their latest project, Thug Life, opened to mixed reviews and is struggling at the box office.
On its second day, Friday, the film experienced a significant drop in earnings. According to reports, Thug Life collected ₹7.50 crore across all languages on day two, marking a sharp 55% decline from its opening day’s ₹15.50 crore. This brings its two-day total in India to ₹23 crore.
In stark contrast, Akshay Kumar’s Housefull 5, which released the same day—raked in ₹24.35 crore on its first day alone. The comedy’s release also impacted Thug Life’s performance in the Hindi belt, where it was heavily promoted as a pan-India film. However, the Hindi version of Thug Life earned only ₹65 lakh on day one, with trade experts forecasting day two figures between ₹25-30 lakh. This underwhelming performance suggests that the film may struggle to cross ₹5 crore net in Hindi throughout its run, disappointing numbers for a star of Kamal Haasan’s caliber.
The film’s fate isn’t much better in Tamil either. Its ₹23 crore two-day total falls well short compared to Kamal Haasan’s previous hit Vikram, which earned ₹60 crore net in the same timeframe back in 2022. Even the box office disappointment Indian 2, released last year, performed better with ₹44 crore net in its first two days. Thug Life has a tough road ahead if it hopes to recover.
Adding to its woes, Thug Life did not release in Karnataka due to controversies stemming from Kamal Haasan’s remarks on the Kannada language, affecting its overall business.
The film stars Kamal Haasan alongside Trisha, Silambarasan, Joju George, Ashok Selvan, Nasser, and Abhirami. It features music by the maestro AR Rahman, with Ravi K Chandran handling cinematography and A Sreekar Prasad in charge of editing.