Kamal Haasan-Mani Ratnam magnum opus titled ‘Thug Life’

Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan turns 69 on November 7 and on his birthday eve, the title of his new film with ace director Mani Ratnam was revealed. The movie, earlier known as KH234, has been titled ‘Thug Life’ and stars Kamal Haasan along with Trisha, Jayam Ravi and Dulquer Salmaan. The cast announcement was also made on Monday.
Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam are re-uniting after a record 36 years. The two worked together in the 1987 film, ‘Nayakan’, which earned Kamal Haasan the National Film Award for Best Actor. The movie also won National Awards for Best Cinematography (P C Sreeram) and Best Art Direction (Thota Tharani).
The character Kamal Haasan is essaying in ‘Thug Life’ is named Rangaraya Sakthivel Naicker and there is speculation that this film could be connected to ‘Nayakan’. The announcement video, released on November 6 evening, featured Kamal Haasan covered in a dusty white shawl facing a group of gangsters and speaking into the camera. He stated, “It seems they had written on my forehead at birth that Sakthivel Naicker was a criminal, a goonda, a Yakuza. Yakuza in Japanese means gangster. My name is Rangaraya Sakthivel Naicker. Remember my name.”
‘Thug Life’ is produced by Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, R. Mahendran and Siva Ananth, under the banners of Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies and Red Giant Movies. The music for this film is by AR Rahman and the editor is Sreekar Prasad. Ravi K Chandran is handling the cinematography and Anbariv are the stunt directors. Sharmishta Roy is the production designer and Eka Lakhani will be handling the costumes. The movie is likely to hit theatres in 2024.
The announcement video has created a lot of buzz on social media and there is palpable excitement among fans and the general audience. People on social media have loved the title and are wishing the Ulaganayagan the very best for this film. Kamal Haasan is called Andavar (God) fondly by his fans and many praised Mani Ratnam for this ‘masterpiece with Andavar’.