Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life Storms Box Office Despite Kannada Controversy: Advance Bookings, OTT R

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam’s much-awaited gangster drama ‘Thug Life ‘is already making headlines, and not just for its cinematic scale or the collaboration excitement between Mani Ratman and Kamal Haasan. As fans gear up for the reunion of the ‘Nayakan’ duo after 38 years, the film has sparked both massive box office buzz and a fiery linguistic row.

Thug Life advance bookings collection

Despite releasing on a non-holiday Thursday, ‘Thug Life’ is showing strong signs of dominance at the box office. The film has already sold over 7.74 lakh tickets across India, spread across 5,143 shows. In just 24 hours of advance booking, the film has raked in ₹1.32 crore (excluding blocked seats), and that figure rises to ₹3.55 crore when blocked seats are included, as per data from Sacnilk.

With the buzz surrounding the Kamal Haasan–Mani Ratnam collaboration, industry insiders expect the film to mint ₹35 crore on Day 1 alone. This could potentially surpass the recent opening figures of big Bollywood titles like ‘Sikandar’ (₹30.06 crore) and ‘Chhaava’ (₹33.10 crore).

Thug Life budget & scale

Jointly produced by Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam, ‘Thug Life’ comes with an estimated budget of ₹250–300 crore. The casting itself reflects the film’s ambitious scale — with Silambarasan TR (STR) reportedly earning ₹40 crore, making him the highest-paid after Haasan. Trisha Krishnan has allegedly pocketed ₹12 crore, while actors like Abhirami and Joju George have also drawn sizeable pay cheques.

The film, set to release in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi, will stream on Netflix post its theatrical run.

Kamal Haasan controversy

But the road to release hasn’t been entirely smooth. During the film’s audio launch, Kamal Haasan claimed that “Kannada was born out of Tamil”, a statement that triggered backlash from pro-Kannada outfits and politicians. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and Minister for Kannada and Culture, Shivaraj Tangadagi, strongly opposed the remark.

In response, Tangadagi urged the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce (KFCC) to ban all Kamal Haasan films unless he apologised. Haasan refused to issue a public apology, prompting the KFCC to enforce a ban on ‘Thug Life’. His production house, Raaj Kamal Films, later filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court to lift the ban — but the court reportedly rebuked Haasan for not retracting his statement.

Despite the controversy, the film’s momentum remains strong among audiences eager to see the reunion of two of Tamil cinema’s most iconic figures.