Thug Life 3-Day Box Office Collection: Kamal Haasan Film Earns ₹30.40 Cr India Net, Tamil Version Dominates

Thug Life Box Office Collection: Thug Life, the much-anticipated gangster drama featuring Kamal Haasan and Silambarasan, has wrapped up its first three days in theaters with mixed results at the box office. Directed by Mani Ratnam and co-written by Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, the film was released on June 5, 2025, in multiple formats, including IMAX and EPIQ. Despite the star-studded cast and historic reunion of Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam nearly four decades after Nayakan (1987), early box office trends indicate an uneven start.

According to box office tracker Cinetrak, Thug Life showed a dip after its opening day in Tamil Nadu. On Day 1 (Thursday), the film brought in ₹10.62 crore from tracked collections. However, the numbers declined on Friday, with Day 2 yielding ₹5.08 crore. Saturday saw a marginal recovery, with earnings of ₹6.22 crore, registering a 23% increase over Friday. The cumulative total from these tracked cinemas stands at ₹21.93 crore over the three-day period.

Meanwhile, estimates from Sacnilk, a major Indian box office tracking platform, suggest that Thug Life collected ₹ 30.40 crore in India net over the same time frame. Here's a breakdown of the daily figures according to Sacnilk:

Day 1 [Thursday]: ₹15.5 crore

Day 2 [Friday]: ₹7.15 crore

Day 3 [Saturday]: ₹ 7.75 crore

The majority of the collections have come from the Tamil version of the film, with Telugu and Hindi dubbed versions contributing relatively modest amounts. On Day 1, the majority of Thug Life's ₹15.5 crore collection came from the Tamil version (₹13.35 crore), with Hindi and Telugu versions contributing ₹0.65 crore and ₹1.5 crore, respectively. Similar trends continued on Days 2 and 3, where Tamil collections remained dominant at ₹6.35 crore and ₹7 crore, while Hindi and Telugu versions accounted for smaller shares.

A Multi-timeline Gangster Saga With A Star-Studded Cast

Thug Life unfolds over two timelines and follows Rangaraaya Sakthivel, a mafia kingpin entangled in a web of betrayal, vengeance, and shifting alliances. Spanning locations from the underworld of Delhi to remote Himalayan terrains, the film attempts to explore themes such as identity, power, and the long-term fallout of violence. While the narrative ambition is notable, early audience reception has been mixed, with critiques primarily pointing to weak writing and a lack of emotional connection with the characters.

The film features a large ensemble cast including Trisha Krishnan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, and Rohit Saraf. With music composed by A. R. Rahman and cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran, Thug Life has drawn positive notes for its technical aspects, though this hasn't fully translated into strong box office momentum.

Production on the film began in early 2023 and concluded in late 2024, with shoots across multiple Indian cities, including Chennai, Kanchipuram, Pondicherry, and New Delhi. The project was launched under the working title Kamal Haasan 234, signifying Kamal Haasan's 234th film as a lead actor, before being officially titled Thug Life in late 2023.

Behind the scenes, the film brought together a robust team. The action sequences were choreographed by Anbariv, with production design by Sharmishta Roy and costume design led by Eka Lakhani. Kamal Haasan's personal styling was handled by Amritha Ram, and special makeup by Japanese artist Akihito Ikeda. VFX was supervised by H. Monesh, and final color grading was done by DI colorist Ashirwad Hadkar.

While the film opened with considerable buzz, driven by the pairing of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan, as well as the presence of popular actors like Silambarasan, the mixed response and modest box office growth suggest that word-of-mouth and weekday trends will play a crucial role in determining the film's overall performance.

With final Sunday (Day 4) numbers yet to come in, industry observers are closely watching to see whether Thug Life can sustain its momentum or face further drops during the weekdays. Given the film's high production and marketing costs, the coming days will be critical for its theatrical run.