‘An emotional drama within the world of crime’: Mani Ratnam on ‘Thug Life’

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam are seasoned crossover artists, having working beyond the Tamil language film industry for much of their careers (Haasan longer than Ratnam). Thus it was fitting that Haasan and Ratnam included Mumbai as a pit stop for the promotions of their new collaboration, Thug Life.

The crime drama will be released on June 5 in cinemas in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. The film’s trailer identifies Haasan as Rangaraaya Sakthivel, who adopts the orphan Amaran (Silambarasan).

The trailer suggests that Amaran turns against Rangaraaya, setting up a battle with him as well as other characters played by Nasser, Joju George and Mahesh Manjrekar. Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Trisha Krishnan, Ashok Selvan and Sanya Malhotra also star in the film, which will be released in regular and 2D Imax formats.

“The film isn’t all about action, there is a lot of emotion too,” Haasan said during a press meet on Thursday in Mumbai. The title was among several suggested by Haasan, Ratnam added.

“Thug Life is actually an emotional drama within the world of crime,” Ratnam said. “With a title like this, there will be action but it has to have the right emotional feel. You can give it a lyrical form because masters like Sergio Leone...

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