'Thug Life' trailer: Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan explore father-son troubles and underworld power struggles

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam have unveiled the first glimpse at Thug Life in the form of a two-minute-long trailer that, as expected, has MANI RATNAM written all over it. The footage opens with Kamal Haasan's Rangaraaya Sakthivel Naicker, a powerful Mumbai-based don, telling a boy, "You saved my life. You protected me from the Lord of Death. Our two destinies were written as one. You and I are bound together as one."

Is the boy, Amar, the don's son or an adopted one? Does he grow up to be a police officer or a gangster (played by Silambarasan)? What causes the eventual rift between the two? We get quick shots of an intense fight sequence between Kamal and Silambarasan which, interestingly, happens twice, seemingly in two different periods as evidenced by Kamal's looks. It's also evident that Rangaraaya Sakthivel Naicker gets caught in a power struggle with rival gangs. When Amar handles things in Ranganayakar's absence, some folks are irked at the idea.

There are some familiar sights and the usual Mani Ratnam trademarks — most notably the cute husband-wife romance — but the footage also promises something fresh alongside the familiar from the master filmmaker who has assembled a stellar cast that also includes Trisha Krishnan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Nassar, and Joju George, among others.

Thug Life, Kamal's 234th film, is bankrolled jointly by the actor's Raaj Kamal Films International and Ratnam's Madras Talkies, in association with Red Giant Movies. It hits theatres on June 5.

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