Thug Life Box Office Collection Day 1: Kamal Haasan's Film Off to a Disastrous Start, Mints Just Rs. 9 Crores!

The days when big-star movies struggled due to low attendance and negative reviews have long since passed. Now, both audience reactions and critics' reviews have become extremely crucial for a movie to emerge victorious at the box office. If the critics liked a Star Movie but the audience didn't , there was no film that ended up being profitable. That's why it's more effective to create a film that resonates with the general audience rather than attempting to impress the critics.

The same was said about Karthik Subbaraj's Retro, and similarly, with Thug Life, legendary director Mani Ratnam failed to impress both audiences and critics with his gangster drama, with Day 1 reviews indicating the film's potential performance over the long weekend.

Thug Life opened to negative and middling reviews from critics and audiences, respectively, as the highly anticipated combination of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan failed to impress people significantly. Even with an impressive first half, Thug Life faltered in the second half when the narrative switched from action to drama, barring Kamal Haasan, who keeps shining throughout the film as a character that's clearly underwritten.

Thug Life attempts to appeal to a wide audience, adhere to Mani Ratnam's classic filmmaking style, and simultaneously deliver slick action sequences. However, Thug Life ultimately becomes overwhelming for the audiences, resulting in Thug Life feeling like a significant oversight by the master filmmaker himself.

The box-office collection already reflects this. Thug Life's Day 1 box-office collection might hover around the Rs.10 crore mark, and it's a disappointing start for the Kamal Haasan film. Considering how the movie's fate is sealed in Karnataka, Thug Life might just become one of those Kamal Haasan films that his die-hard fans would probably end up defending more than needed.