Box Office: ‘Thug Life’ emerges as one of the all-time disasters

“Thug Life,” the second collaboration between legendary actor Kamal Haasan and acclaimed filmmaker Mani Ratnam, has turned out to be one of the biggest loss-making films for all parties involved. The Tamil film was also released simultaneously in Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam on a large scale.

Kamal Haasan and his team promoted the film aggressively in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, organizing events in Hyderabad and Vizag. However, the response was dismal. In the Telugu states, “Thug Life” managed to collect a mere Rs 2 crore share over its four-day opening weekend. The film, distributed by Sresht Movies (owned by Sudhakar Reddy), is expected to result in a total loss of the entire investment.

The Tamil version fared no better. In fact, it has gone down as one of the all-time disasters in Tamil cinema. For Kamal Haasan, it has performed worse than even “Indian 2.” After his strong comeback with “Vikram,” the actor has now seen two consecutive box-office disasters — Indian 2 and Thug Life — both of which failed to generate even a respectable box office return.

Director Mani Ratnam faced heavy trolling for his formulaic writing and lackluster direction. While “Thug Life” managed to recover its production costs through non-theatrical deals, it remains a massive theatrical disaster.