‘Thug Life’ Review: Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan’s Long-Awaited Reunion Falls Frustratingly Short of Its Potential

Right after the intermission, Thug Life takes a plot turn so rushed and so implausible that even a directing maestro like Mani Ratnam and an acting legend like Kamal Haasan, reuniting 38 years after the landmark hit Nayakan, can’t make it work. From there, the film slowly derails. Emotions take a backseat to action. Hurried explanations for what we see are provided via exposition or voiceover. Logic exits the frame.

A key character is threatened, but despite the obvious danger and all the power he wields and the goons at his command, he’s driving alone in the next scene down a desolate road, where of course he gets what was coming to him. Thugs hired to kill somehow bring machetes instead of guns to the fight. There is even a family reunion that feels so clumsy and designed that you can almost visualize the filmmaker moving his characters around like pieces on a chessboard.

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And here’s what’s really, really frustrating about all of this: Up until that point, Thug Life is captivating.

Ratnam, working from a story by Haasan, sets up a familiar but resonant tale of father and son. In Nayakan, Haasan played Velu Naicker, the foster son who became a criminal. In Thug Life, he is Rangaraya Sakthivel Nayakar, the foster father who says that he was fated to be a criminal. Both characters commit murders when they are young boys, and both find solace in women who used to be sex workers. But unlike Velu, Rangaraya isn’t burdened with much of a conscience. He’s a man who enjoys the power he exerts.

He’s ruthless and towering, but also flawed and vulnerable — which is what makes this gangster succession drama so gripping. The canvas brims with characters who casually kill but also love, laugh, quarrel. They have bouts of anger, jealousy, insecurity. In one beautifully staged scene, Rangaraya, his foster son Amaran (Silambarasan TR) and his elder brother Manickam (Nassar) are arguing about a partnership with a rival, and when each one addresses Rangaraya as brother, he angrily responds not to call him that. It could be a fight in any family, except these men are killers.

The affection between Rangaraya and his wife, Jeeva (Abhirami), has a lived-in texture. Their bond is so strong that even his philandering ways can’t break it. When she is wounded by his actions, he describes his infidelity as a disease, as others might have diabetes or high blood pressure. It’s a feeble explanation, dismissive of her pain, and a lesser actor wouldn’t have been able to pull off its sheer callousness. But Haasan does it with such ease that we, and she, can forgive him.

The actor has many such moments of power and grace. Look out for a scene in which he admits to being wrong and asks forgiveness with a fumbling apology, because Rangaraya isn’t used to being in that position. Or the way he dances in “Jinguchaa,” a song for which Haasan wrote the lyrics. It’s a joy to watch.

The other standout is Silambarasan, who makes a fine sparring partner for Haasan. Many scenes between them roil with emotion: affection, hate, hurt. But Amaran’s arc flatlines post-intermission, and it’s hard to stay interested in his anguish.

However, A. R. Rahman’s sumptuous, soaring soundtrack adds heft, especially the poignant “Anju Vanna Poove” (which translates to “flower with five colors”), sprinkled throughout the film. And cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran adds grace and ferocity to the frames, especially in a black-and-white sequence set in the past.

Despite so much to cheer about, Thug Life doesn’t hit the high notes, mostly because the writing wobbles badly. The screenplay lets down its characters, especially the women — Jeeva or Rangaraya’s mistress, Indrani (Trisha), could have been so much more. There is a scene in which Indrani sits on the steps of her house and her eyes suddenly take on a stricken expression, because she understands fully her place in this world. But I wish her arc had had more meat and that the film had explored more meaningfully the transient, transactional bond she has with these men.

Should you see Thug Life? Yes, because so many masters are at work here. But go in knowing that though the film has sparks which blaze momentarily, they never ignite into a glorious fire.

And leave Nayakan behind. Perhaps no one, not even Ratnam and Haasan, can match that poetry.