Thug Life Movie Review

After delivering a cult classic film, Nayakan, in 1987, Kamal Haasan & Mani Ratnam took thirty-eight years to team up again for a film in their combination. Apart from acting in the film, Kamal Haasan also shared the credits in writing along with Mani Ratnam. After raising enough curiosity with the teaser and trailer, the film was finally released in theatres today with a good amount of expectations from moviegoers. Did Thug Life do justice to the thirty-eight years of wait for the second film in the combination of Kamal Haasan & Mani Ratnam? Did Kamal Haasan get onto a success streak after a terrible film like Indian 2? Did A R Rahman score memorable music yet again for a Maniratnam film? What roles did Silambarasan and Trisha Krishnan play in the movie? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Rangaraaya Sakthivel (Kamal Haasan) is a gangster based out of Delhi. During a shoot-out between Sakthivel’s gang and police in 1994, the father of Amaran (Silambarasan) gets killed. While escaping from the shoot-out spot, Sakthivel takes Amaran along with him and raises Amaran as his son. Twenty-two years later, i.e. 2016, Sakthivel announces Amaran as the head of the gang while going to jail for a murder case. How did the other crucial members of the gang react to the decision to make Amaran the head of the gang? Why did Amaran betray Sakthivel? What is Indrani’s (Trisha) relationship with Sakthivel and Amaran? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Kamal Haasan in the role of Rangaraaya Sakthivel performed brilliantly. His performance especially in a sequence with Silambarasan in a car and a sequence with Abhirami at the beach, is outstanding. It’s a shame his brilliant acting was wasted in a poorly written-movie. Nassar in the role of Manickam, a jealous brother of Rangaraaya Sakthivel, delivered a very good performance.

Silambarasan is the role of Amaran is wasted in an underdeveloped character. There is nothing much he can do in a character that is written half-heartedly. Trisha in the role of Indrani, a mistress to both Rangaraaya Sakthivel and Amaran performed well but again her character is written badly with an abrupt ending. Abhirami as the wife of Rangaraaya Sakthivel delivered a very mature performance.

Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi and all other notable actors were underutilised. Especially, the way Ashok Selvan looked clueless throughout the film tells you how badly the characters were written and developed.

Technicalities:

A. R. Rahman’s music is a big disappointment. Apart from one particular score which he used to elevate the lead character, his songs and background score failed to create any impact. This is by far A. R. Rahman’s weakest work for a Mani Ratnam’s movie. Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography is first-rate. Every frame of his, especially during the interval sequence, is outstanding.

Steekar Prasad’s editing is very poor. At least twenty minutes of the film should have been edited, especially in the second half. The climax action sequence between Kamal Haasan & Silambarasan dragged on forever for no reason. Production values by Raaj Kamal Films International, Madras Talkies & Red Giant Movies are top notch but unfortunately, the producers invested a lot of money without a properly developed script.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Kamal Haasan Performance
2.⁠ ⁠Cinematography

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Poor Writing
2.⁠ ⁠Predictable Screenplay
3.⁠ ⁠Direction
4.⁠ ⁠Underwhelming Music
5.⁠ ⁠Underdeveloped Characters
6.⁠ ⁠Lack of Emotional Depth
7.⁠ ⁠Editing

Analysis:

Mani Ratnam has delivered a lot of classics, hits and a few flops and disaster movies as well in the past. Very well-written characters, & depth in emotional drama are the hallmarks of a Maniratnam movie. Even his flop and disaster movies in the past used to have very good emotional drama and strong characters. When Mani Ratnam teamed up with Kamal Haasan after thirty-eight years for Thug Life, the bare minimum thing the movie-going audience expected from their combination was strong writing. Unfortunately, the writers of the movie, Kamal Haasan and Maniratnam, disappointed big time with their work.

Not even a single character was written properly. There is a lot of scope for the characters played by Silambarasan and Ashok Selvan but both the characters were underdeveloped. You can understand how bad the writing is when very good actors like Silambarasan and Ashok Selvan look clueless throughout the movie. It is shocking to see a director of Maniratnam’s calibre selecting a notable actor like Aishwarya Lekshmi in a character which should appear insignificant initially and end up becoming relevant to one of the core points of the film. Maniratnam at his peak would have hired a relatively unknown actor to play that character to get the desired impact or surprise during the pre-climax but unfortunately, the Maniratnam we see in Thug Life looked like a spent force and pale shadow on himself.

Not sure if it is Kamal Haasan’s idea or Maniratnam’s idea but the idea of creating a mistress character, played by Trisha, which stays with Rangaraaya Sakthivel’s character in the first half and Amaran’s character in the second half misfired. Neither the conflict and the drama nor the ending for Trisha’s character worked. The romantic Sequence between Kamal Haasan and Trisha looked very odd. Mani Ratnam with all his experience tried his best to make the romantic track between Kamal Haasan and Trisha aesthetic but failed miserably.

Although the proceedings are very predictable right from the opening sequence, the first half of the film was at least watchable. The first half ends with a very intriguing sequence. It is not your fault if you expect a very good second half with a unique screenplay considering the big names associated but what we get to see in the second half is a boring and forever dragged-on revenge drama. Not even a single sequence worked out in the second and poor background score by A. R. Rahman made the second half unbearable.

Overall, Thug Life is a disappointing film by Kamal Haasan and Maniratnam. It is a forgettable film for the legendary duo who delivered a cult classic film, Nayakan, in their combination thirty-eight years ago. At the box office, the film may get good openings on day one due to the combination value but it is highly unlikely for the film to sustain at least until the end of the first weekend.

Bottomline: Thug Life – No Life

Rating: 2/5