Thug Life Movie Review (2025): After a long hiatus, director Mani Ratnam and lead Kamal Haasan’s collaboration in the Tamil gangster drama “Thug Life” hit the silver screens today, on 5th June 2025. The dynamic combo worked together last in 1987’s epic crime drama Nayakan. Scroll down below to read the movie review.
Thug Life (2025) Movie Overview
Language: Tamil
Theatrical Release Date: June 5th, 2025
Director: Mani Ratnam
Writers: Mani Ratnam & Kamal Haasan
Baap of Movies Rating: 2/5
Star Cast: Kamal Haasan, Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Rohit Saraf and Baburaj others
Cinematographer: Ravi K. Chandran
Editor: A. Sreekar Prasad
Music: A. R. Rahman
Duration: 163 Minutes (2 hours and 43 minutes)
Banners: Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies & Red Giant Movies
Thug Life Plot Summary
The gangster drama is set in New Delhi and revolves around a world ruled by crime and betrayal. Rangaraya Sakthiraju (Kamal Haasan) and his brother Manickam (Nassar) dominate the region as powerful gangsters. In their young days, both rescued a young Amaran (Simbu) and raised him as their own. Years later, an unfortunate incident led to Sakthivel being imprisoned, resulting in Amaran taking over the empire. After Sakthivel returned from prison, an assassination attempt was held on him. Who is behind this attempt at assassination? Why is he trying to kill Sakthiraju? Will he survive? Who is Amaran, and what is his past? and many more questions are going to unfold in this film.
Thug Life Movie Review: A Missed Opportunity
The highly anticipated collaboration between Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan fails to meet the moviegoers’ expectations. The young-time visual of the actors Kamal Haasan and Nassar, quite well. Silambarasan and Kamal Haasan’s confrontation delivers some loving moments for the moviegoers; the veteran Haasan’s independent appearances are decently portrayed. Abhirami as Sakthivel’s wife is well portrayed, while Trisha Krishnan as Sakthivel’s girlfriend fails to leave any noteworthy mark in the film, and the rest of the supporting actors fill their roles adequately.
Mani Ratnam underperforms to land his iconic style of direction and powerful style of storytelling. The plot, also written by Mani-Kamal, is predictable, making the film stand only on the star value. A. R. Rahman’s music tried hard to enhance the audience experience through a soundtrack and a background score, but still the effort came to nothing. Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography is serviceable, but on the other hand, A. Sreekar Prasad’s editing is not that up to the mark; the duration could have been trimmed to around 15 minutes.
Baap of Movies Verdict on Thug Life
Overall, Thug Life is a fail short of meeting the moviegoers’ huge expectations from the iconic collaboration between Kamal and Mani. If you love to watch gripping crime sagas or are expecting something big from this collaboration, you can reduce your expectations from the film, and once you watch it, or skip it, wait for the OTT release.
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