‘Thug Life’ posts low numbers on Day 1

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam’s “Thug Life” has opened to disappointing numbers at the box office, despite heavy pre-release publicity. The film received unanimously negative reviews from critics, and the general audience response echoed the same sentiment. What has truly surprised the trade, however, is the film’s underwhelming first-day collections, considering the scale of the project and the star power involved.

In India, “Thug Life” managed to collect only Rs 17 crore on its opening day, significantly lower than Kamal Haasan’s previous film “Indian 2” (Rs 25.6 crore), which itself was a commercial failure.

While the Tamil version performed relatively better, the Hindi and Telugu dubbed versions struggled, registering low occupancy rates. The Telugu version in particular collected an estimated Rs 1.75 crore, well below expectations.

Despite an impressive cast and high production values, “Thug Life” failed to resonate with both critics and moviegoers. The film was widely panned for its sluggish pacing, predictable narrative, and lack of emotional depth. While the first half manages to build some tension, the second half reportedly collapses under clichéd tropes, long monologues, and underdeveloped characters.

Given its weak opening, the film is now expected to result in heavy losses for Telugu distributor Sudhakar Reddy of Sresht Movies.