Kamal Haasan’s latest action drama Thug Life opened to a lukewarm response at the domestic box office on Thursday, earning Rs 17 crore nett on its first day.

According to industry data-tracking portal Sacnilk, Thug Life managed to pull in Rs 15.4 crore nett from its Tamil version, Rs 1.5 crore nett from its Telugu version, and a mere Rs 10 lakh nett from its Hindi version.

The total opening day figure falls significantly short of Kamal Haasan’s previous film, Indian 2, which collected Rs 25.6 crore nett on Day 1 upon release last year.

While the film managed decent occupancy overall, it was Tamil Nadu that primarily drove the Day 1 numbers. The Tamil version of Thug Life registered an overall occupancy of 52.06 per cent, while the Telugu version posted a moderate 21.36 per cent occupancy rate. However, the Hindi version fared poorly, logging only 5.79 per cent occupancy overall.

The underwhelming box office response comes amid mixed-to-poor reviews from audiences and early viewers. Many social media reactions pointed to a sluggish and confusing second half, with some fans even calling the film one of Mani Ratnam’s most disappointing works.

Jointly produced by Raaj Kamal Films International and Madras Talkies, Thug Life follows the story of Sakthivel, a mafia kingpin, who rescues a boy named Amaran from a police shootout and raises him as his own. Years later, when Sakthivel survives an assassination attempt, suspicion falls on the now-grown Amaran (played by Silambarasan), leading to a showdown.

The film has been co-written by Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam, and features a supporting cast that includes Trisha, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nasser, Abhirami and Aishwarya Lekshmi. Ratnam’s long time collaborator A.R. Rahman composed the music for the film.