20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Kamal Haasan says he and Mani Ratnam 'want the audience to forget Nayakan' when they watch Thug Life
This is one of the most highly anticipated films, given that ace director Mani Ratnam and film legend Kamal Haasan have joined hands after 38 years. It was in 1987 that the two stalwarts worked together in Nayakan, which is featured on Time's All-Time 100 Best Films and is a cult classic. In a media meet for Thug Life in Chennai, Kamal Haasan, AR Rahman, Silambarasan, Trisha, Abhirami, and Ashok Selvan came together to talk about the film and their experiences. (Also read: Thug Life trailer: Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan clash in Mani Ratnam's action-packed gangster drama. Watch)
One of the biggest comparisons being made is obviously between Nayakan and Thug Life, as they are both crime dramas, and while in Nayakan, he was Velu Naicker, in Thug Life, he is Rangaraya Sakthivel Naicker. When Kamal Haasan was asked about the grand reunion with Mani Ratnam after 37 years and what had changed between Nayakan and Thug Life, he replied, 'I am a more experienced actor now. Both of us have also evolved – we are not the same Mani Ratnam or Kamal Haasan we were during Nayakan. Even AR Rahman is not the same music director since then. Mani has gone in the direction he has wanted, and if he has not achieved what he wanted to, it's only because of circumstances and not otherwise. We also want people to forget Nayakan when they watch this film. This is not related to that.'
Interestingly, the story of Thug Life has been written by Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam. 'I had written a script called Amar Hai, which was with me, and I told Mani about it. That story was then polished and reworked by Mani – so if you look at Amar Hai and then Thug Life, it won't be the exact same story now but that is the inspiration. This is what I believe is true collaboration,' Kamal stated.
Incidentally, Amar Hai was announced as a film around nine years ago and was to feature Kamal Haasan and Saif Ali Khan. But the movie was eventually dropped. The Amar Hai story was about a man named Amar, who is thought to be dead, but he is in fact alive. When the 16 Vayathinile star was asked about life and death, which played a role in this film, he replied, 'I don't separate death from life. Death is a part of life. Your conscience is immortal.'
The actor added that the synergy between everyone in the Thug Life cast was wonderful and they all understood the vision and worked well together. He smiled, 'Mani Ratnam orchestrated it well.' As for what has changed over the years, Kamal said that everything has changed in cinema over the years from the lights to the cameras to the cars people come in but what remained the same was that the actors who came to act were still the same.
When Hindustan Times asked Kamal Haasan what he would say if he could sum up his life in one line, Kamal Haasan smiled and said, "Life!" To this, actor Askok Selvan jokingly added, "Thug Life!"
