Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam’s 1987 cult classic Nayakan set a benchmark for gangster movies in India, paving the way for the likes of Satya and Company. Cut to 2025, the actor-director duo reunite for Thug Life, another gangster saga that hit screens on Thursday. But their latest offering struggles to offer a new perspective to the underworld.

At the centre of Thug Life is Rangaraya Sakthivel, a feared yet noble mafia kingpin played with gravitas by Kamal Haasan. When a young boy named Amaran is caught in a police crossfire, Sakthivel rescues him and raises him like a son. The film then leaps forward in time, where Amaran, now a sharp and volatile young man, portrayed by Silambarasan TR, finds himself under suspicion when Sakthivel narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.

The first half of Thug Life is where Ratnam’s touch is most apparent. The narrative opens with a monochromatic sequence set in 1994, with a digitally de-aged Kamal Haasan battling it out against the cops. It is a breathtaking action segment, mounted to perfection.

In the first-half, Ratnam constructs a world thick with Shakespearean intrigue, drawing parallels to King Lear and Macbeth, exploring betrayal, paternal love, and the poison of ambition. The characters navigate this morally grey world with weary eyes and bloodied hands. There’s a richness to the writing here, even if it’s sometimes overly expository. Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography and A.R. Rahman’s score elevates the mood. The world-building, too, is meticulous (kudos to production designer Sharmishta Roy).

However, after the intermission, the film starts to fall off. The writing simplifies itself into a more generic gangster-revenge narrative. The complexities of the mentor-protégé relationship are abandoned in favour of bloodied fights and predictable plot turns. The screenplay becomes increasingly mechanical, ticking off familiar genre beats without the earlier nuance. And the character arcs that once hinted at Greek tragedy begin to feel rushed and hollow.

Haasan, however, remains a magnetic presence throughout. Even when the narrative falters, he commands every frame with seasoned finesse — dignified, dangerous, and deeply human. But even his character starts to feel static, reduced to monologues and grim gazes in a plot that demands more urgency.

Silambarasan is the true revelation in Thug Life. His portrayal of Amaran shifts from a loyal henchman to an ambitious gangster himself. With the betrayal before the intermission, his transformation is the film’s emotional anchor. However, his ultimate fate feels undercooked and rushed.

The supporting ensemble — Nasser, Trisha, Abhirami, Ali Fazal, Aishwarya Lekshmi — remain largely underutilised. There are flashes of brilliance in the character arcs, but they are lost in a flurry of set pieces.