Thug Life

Rangaraaya Sakthivel Naicker is a dreaded crime boss whose empire is built as much on loyalty as on fear. When his adopted son and his own brother conspire to seize power and have him killed, Sakthivel survives a near-fatal fall and vanishes. Two years later he returns, hardened and disciplined, to hunt down those who betrayed him one by one. As the vendetta unfolds, the story weighs the cost of revenge against the pull of family, loss and the faint hope of redemption.

Thug Life was directed by Mani Ratnam and written by Ratnam with Kamal Haasan, reuniting the pair long after their acclaimed collaboration on Nayakan. It was produced by Kamal Haasan, R. Mahendran, Mani Ratnam and Siva Ananth under the Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies and Turmeric Media banners. The film was photographed by Ravi K. Chandran and edited by A. Sreekar Prasad, with a runtime of about 163 minutes.

The music and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman, whose collaboration with Mani Ratnam brought a rich, mood-driven soundscape to the film’s crime saga.

Thug Life released on 5 June 2025 and grossed around ₹94 crore. Reviews were mixed: critics praised the lead performances, Rahman’s music and the cinematography, but found the second half predictable. The film underperformed commercially relative to expectations for a Kamal Haasan–Mani Ratnam reunion.