Thug Life box office verdict: Kamal Haasan’s film earns Rs 85 crore, trade analyst predicts ‘losses in Rs 100 cr bracket'

Thug Life box office verdict: Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life, which hit the screens on June 5, opened to an average response at the worldwide box office and grossed nearly Rs 38 crore on the first day. In doing so, it failed to beat Indian 2 as the vigilante thriller earned Rs 50 crore on day 1. Thereafter, Thug Life witnessed a massive drop in collections and stayed fairly flat even on weekends. The action thriller is now nearing the end of its run, and its fate is sealed.


Thug Life, which marks Mani Ratnam’s second collaboration with Kamal Haasan, hit the screens on June 5 amid fanfare and failed to deliver at the box office. According to Manobala Vijayabalan, a trade analyst, the biggie earned merely Rs 85 crore worldwide. He added that the makers are set to incur heavy losses.

“Thug Life has grossed just ₹85 cr from worldwide box office. We are looking at losses above ₹100 cr considering its mammoth budget (of nearly Rs 300 crore),” he told Indiatimes.

This essentially means that it has failed to beat the lifetime collection of Vikram and Indian 2, Kamal Haasan’s last two releases. The Lokesh Kanagaraj-directed actioner earned over Rs 400 crore in its full run and emerged as a blockbuster. Similarly, Shankar’s magnum opus made Rs 151 crore despite being a flop.


Similarly, Thug Life hasn’t lived up to the standards set by Mani Ratnam’s previous films. It has failed to match the performance of Poonniyin Selvan (Rs 500 crore) and Ponniyin Selvan 2(Rs 345 crore).

Thug Life received negative reviews with critics panning the screenplay and the execution. This affected its performance, preventing it from enjoying a long run

“The audience rejected it due to its story which was boring and completely failed to grip the viewers on the edge of their seats,” added Manobala.

Thug Life was not released in Karnataka, an important market for Tamil movies. This came after Kamal Haasan’s ‘Kannada came from Tamil’ remark created controversy.


Thug Life is an action thriller that centres on a kingpin who is forced to lock horns with the family he once nurtured. The cast is headlined by Kamal Haasan, Simbu, Trisha, Ali Fazal, and Joju George. AR Rahman serves as the music director.

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