Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam worked together in the 1987 film Nayakan, which was well-appreciated by both the audience and critics. However, despite frequent demands from people, things could never materialise until now, when the two legends finally decided to work together in Thug Life. The film’s first song was launched in Chennai, where both stalwarts, along with other members of the cast, marked their presence and talked about the gangster action-drama, which is scheduled to release on June 5.
‘It’s Our Mistake’
Speaking about the same at the event, Kamal Haasan says, “The reason we didn’t get together all this time is us. The mistake is ours. And the reason why we are together now is because of you (the audience). You are the ones who say it’s a good idea. All these years, you have kept both of us on a pedestal. We didn’t know that. So, we can only say sorry now.” He calls Thug Life a “peace offering.”
He adds, “The fault lies with us. We could have done it before, but we kept thinking we could have done it better. But this is a stage for celebration, so let’s not make it a stage for apology. So, I am very happy. And very rarely do these things happen in someone’s career when you are happy, and you are thinking only about the film. Thug Life is that for me.”
He also explains how the world of business works and how that leads to the postponement of certain projects. “In this business, most people are only concerned if the movie would gain profit on the books or not. And the calculation is a probability. It might gain profit or it might lead to a loss,” Haasan explains.
Thug Life also features Trisha, Silambarasan, Joju George, Ashok Selvan, Nasser, Abhirami and others. The music for the film is by maestro AR Rahman while the cinematographer is Ravi K Chandran and editor is A Sreekar Prasad.
Fulfilling Our Dreams
Looking back at his first collaboration with Mani Ratnam and what all have changed in these years, Haasan shares, “Let me tell you, nothing has changed between me and Mani sir. When we met, whatever we spoke of, we have done about 25% of it through our films Nayakan and Thug Life.”
“We have a long way to go, as we didn’t get to realize all our dreams in any film. The problem is we dream too big, and then we are constricted to fit our market and our budget. But I am sure we will collaborate on many more projects and make all the dreams come true,” he ends.
