Thug Life Review: Kamal Haasan’s Rangaraaya Sakthivel Is No Velu Naicker

It is obvious that most of the observations and predictions about Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam project ‘Thug Life’ would be centered about their previous venture almost four decades ago, Nayakan. Thug Life is no Nayakan, 1987 Tamil cult classic that rewrote the gangster-genre in Indian film making, and Rangaraaya Sakthivel is no Velu Naicker.

Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan (written and directed by Ratnam) was a masterclass in character-driven storytelling, anchored by a riveting performance from Kamal Haasan as Velu Naicker—a man whose life journey from an orphaned refugee to a powerful underworld don is narrated with moral complexity and narrative precision. On the other hand, what Thig Life and Sakthivel are lacking the same: a story that could keep the audience glued to the screen, not just in the theatre but outside it for decades, even.

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Velu was built on contradictions: compassionate yet ruthless, protective yet authoritarian. His moral compass, shaped by trauma and systemic failure, leads him to establish a parallel justice system—one that protects his people but at the cost of legality and eventually, family. Meanwhile, Shaktivel is mostly centred on him and his family. Thug Life is about the personal struggles of a gangster as he is locked with the ghosts from his past.

Velu’s ruthlessness becomes both his strength and his downfall, and the emotional cost of his choices is examined, not glorified. The film’s tight, linear narrative allows Velu’s arc to evolve organically, building empathy even as he commits morally questionable acts. In stark contrast, Thug Life suffers from a lack of narrative cohesion and an underwhelming central character. Kamal Haasan’s Rangaraaya Sakthivel is painted in broad strokes, with a character arc that feels vague and underdeveloped.

While there are visual flourishes and philosophical aspirations like we see in legendary gangster movies, the film never roots Sakthivel in a believable emotional or ideological core. His motivations are muddled, his decisions predictable (as the entire story), and his transformation never quite lands. Unlike Velu, who evokes both admiration and unease, Sakthivel lacks the gravity to carry the weight of the film’s thematic ambitions. There are some moments in the movie you will see the master actor and craftsman Kamal Haasan, especially in the second half.

The failure in the execution of Thug Life lies in its dependence on legacy. It banks heavily on the brand value of Nayakan and the nostalgia surrounding the Haasan–Ratnam collaboration, but fails to deliver the substance to match the expectation. That observation brings us to the core question of this conversation: what was Mani Ratnam doing all through the whole? The answer is: he was lost in the story Kamal Haasan told him (reports say that Thug Life was developed from a story Kamal told Mani Ratnam, and then they both worked on it).

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As Kamal’s charisma and character aspirations overtook Mani Ratnam’s ability to make his own craft, what the audience was left with is despair. Thug Life could have been a Nayakan meeting Rashomon experiment if the story had substance. Instead, it ended up as story-less grand movie in which Kamla transformed Mani Ratnam into a potboiler director.

Nayakan was a film of purpose and precision, Thug Life feels like an experiment that loses steam mid-way. It seems as though the creators set out to reimagine the gangster mythos for a new era but got lost in style, symbolism, and self-reference.

Moreover, Sakthivel’s portrayal lacks the fearsome unpredictability and emotional depth that made Velu such a compelling figure. Velu left no room for easy criticism—his arc, while morally ambiguous, was narratively sound. Sakthivel, by contrast, is weaker and more formulaic, a character designed with intent but executed without clarity.

Thug Life, despite its ambition, is a hollow echo of that greatness—haunted by its predecessor, but unable to match its soul.